 Voorhoeve was not given a cabinet position in the cabinet formation of 1998, though he continued to serve in the House of Representatives as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Defence, Development Cooperation and Kingdom Relations.In December 1999, Voorhoeve resigned as a Member of the House of Representatives after being nominated as a Member of the Council of State, which he assumed from 1 December 1999 to 1 January 2011.After retiring from politics, Voorhoeve became active in the public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on supervisory boards of companies such as Oxfam, Trilateral Commission, Organisation for Scientific Research, Carnegie Foundation, Rutgers Nisso Group, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, Institute for Multiparty Democracy, European Centre for Nature Conservation, International Institute of Social History, Institute of International Relations Clingendael and the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences.