Anouchka van Miltenburg (born 20 April 1967) is a retired Dutch politician of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD). She was the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 25 September 2012 until 12 December 2015 and served as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

between 30 January 2003 and 23 March 2017.

Biography

Early life

Van Miltenburg attended a MAVO in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

from 1979 until 1984 when she studied for a year at the

Prince of Wales College Prince of Wales College (PWC) is a former university college, which was located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. PWC merged with St. Dunstan's University in 1969 to form the University of Prince Edward Island. PWC traces its his ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. From 1984 until 1986 she attended a

Havo ''Hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs'' (havo, meaning "higher general continued education" in Dutch) is a stream in the secondary educational system of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Suriname. It has five grades and is generally attended at ...

Nieuwegein Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht, the provincial capital. It is separated from Vianen to the south by the river Lek and borders on IJsselstein in the so ...

. After that she began a study in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

at the

journalism school A journalism school is a school or department, usually part of an established university, where journalists are trained. 'J-School' is an increasingly used term for a journalism department at a school or college. Journalists in most parts of the ...

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

and graduated in 1991. From 1991 until 2001 she worked as a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

for various media companies (''

Brabants Dagblad ''Brabants Dagblad'' is a daily Dutch newspaper. It is distributed in the center and northeast of North Brabant, in 's-Hertogenbosch and Tilburg and their surrounding regions. The paper's office is in 's-Hertogenbosch. History 18th century T ...

'', NOS). And from 1992 until 1993 she worked as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

at a media school in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

Politics

On 14 March 2002 she was elected as a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

in her hometown of

Zaltbommel Zaltbommel (), also known, historically and colloquially, as Bommel, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. History The city of Zaltbommel The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received ...

for the

. She left the

on 1 January 2003 when she became a candidate for the

during the Dutch general election of 2003. On 30 January 2003 she became Member of the House of Representatives and was re-elected each time until the 2017 elections. Her main focus was on matters of

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informati ...

and medical ethics. On 20 September 2012 she announced her candidacy to succeed

Gerdi Verbeet Gerardina Alida "Gerdi" Verbeet (born 18 April 1951) is a retired Dutch politician and political consultant who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 6 December 2006 to 19 September 2012. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), sh ...

as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Verbeet retired after six-years and this left the high office open. Van Miltenburg defeated fellow former journalist

Ton Elias Ton Maarten Christofoor Elias (born 14 March 1955) is a Dutch businessman, retired politician and former journalist who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2017. As a parliamentarian for the People's Party for Freedom ...

in an internal election in the

. Van Miltenburg went on to win the presidency after defeating her two rival candidates,

Khadija Arib Khadija Arib (; ar, خديجة عريب; born 10 October 1960) is a Moroccan-Dutch politician of the Labour Party, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands from 12 December 2015 to 7 April 2021. In the 2016 S ...

of the Labour Party and Gerard Schouw of the Democrats 66 in the main election and was installed as president the same day on 25 September 2012. Van Miltenburg resigned as Speaker of the House on 12 December 2015. Her term as member of the House ended on 23 March 2017.

Personal

Anouchka van Miltenburg has been married to Chris Halkes since 1991 and has three children, she lives in

. She is a member of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. In the 1990s Van Miltenburg was the lead singer of a rock band called Blow Smoke.

References

*
Parlement.com biography

External links

*
Anouchka van Miltenburg
(Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal) *
Anouchka van Miltenburg
(Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie) {{DEFAULTSORT:Miltenburg, Anouchka Van 1967 births Living people Dutch educators Dutch women educators Dutch expatriates in Canada Dutch women singers Dutch journalists Dutch rock singers Dutch Roman Catholics Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors in Gelderland Politicians from Utrecht (city) People from Zaltbommel People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians Speakers of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians Women legislative speakers