Carolina Ann Maria "Caroline" van der Plas (; born 6 June 1967) is a Dutch journalist and politician who has 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 ...

since

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. A former member of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

(CDA), which she left in 2019, she is the founder and current party leader of the

Farmer–Citizen Movement The Farmer–Citizen Movement (, BBB) is an agrarian political party in the Netherlands. It is headquartered in Deventer, Overijssel. The current party leader is Caroline van der Plas, who founded it in 2019. Unlike most of its agrarian counter ...

(BBB).

Biography

Early life and career

Van der Plas was born on 6 June 1967 in

Cuijk Cuijk (; dialect: ''Kuuk'') is a town in the northeastern part of the province of North Brabant, Netherlands. It is the successor of a Roman settlement on the west bank of the Meuse, 13 km (8 mi) south of Nijmegen. Cuijk, which had a po ...

to a Dutch father and an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

mother. Her father, Wil van der Plas (1937–2014), was a

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

and worked for the regional newspaper '' Deventer Dagblad''. Her mother, Nuala Fitzpatrick, is a retired politician of the

(CDA), who served as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in the

municipal executive In the Netherlands, the municipal executive (, ) is the executive board of a municipality. It plays a central role in municipal politics in the Netherlands, similar to the communal college in Belgium. It consists of the mayor and the members of t ...

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

. Van der Plas began her career as a journalist, covering the

meat industry The meat industry are the people and companies engaged in modern industrialized livestock agriculture for the production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat (in contrast to dairy products, wool, etc.). In economics, the meat industry is ...

for ''Reed Business''. She would later shift to communications, providing support to agricultural workers' associations and the Dutch Association of Pig Farmers.

Political career

Originally a member of the CDA, Van der Plas left the party shortly after the 2019 provincial elections. During her membership, she had frequently criticised the party for not doing enough to represent the interests of the

agricultural sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in de ...

. In response to the widespread farmers' protests that took place in the Netherlands in October 2019, she then founded the

(BBB). On 17 October 2020, Van der Plas was unanimously chosen as the party leader of the BBB. Her campaign for the 2021 general election focused on issues important to rural and agrarian voters, including pledges for a "Ministry of the Countryside" located at least 100 kilometres from

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, and a removal of the ban on

neonicotinoids Neonicotinoids (sometimes shortened to neonics ) are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine, developed by scientists at Shell and Bayer in the 1980s. The neonicotinoid family includes acetamiprid, clothianidin, din ...

. The party won one seat in the

, and Van der Plas was installed on 31 March 2021.

Personal life

Van der Plas lives in Deventer and has two sons. Her husband, Jan Gruben, died in 2019 of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plas, Caroline van der 1967 births 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians Dutch agrarianists Dutch journalists Dutch people of Irish descent Dutch political party founders Dutch public relations people Farmer–Citizen Movement politicians Leaders of political parties in the Netherlands Living people Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) People from Cuijk People from Deventer 20th-century Dutch women