Cornelia "Cora" van Nieuwenhuizen-Wijbenga (; born 12 June 1963) is a 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 served as Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management in the

Third Rutte cabinet The third Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022 (since 15 January 2021 demissionary). It was formed by a coalition government of the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ...

from 2017 to 2021, and briefly as Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (''ad interim'') in 2021.

Education

Van Nieuwenhuizen studied

social geography Social geography is the branch of human geography that is interested in the relationships between society and space, and is most closely related to social theory in general and sociology in particular, dealing with the relation of social phenomena ...

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

, as well as at

Nyenrode Business University Nyenrode Business Universiteit (abbreviated as ''NBU''; nl, Nyenrode Business Universiteit) is a Dutch business university and one of the five private universities in the Netherlands. Founded in 1946, it is located on a large estate in the town ...

Breukelen Breukelen () is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is situated to the north west of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and close to the lakes of the Loosdrechtse Plassen, an area of natural and tourist ...

and at

TIAS School for Business and Society TIAS School for Business and Society is a business school which is affiliated with Tilburg University and Eindhoven University of Technology. TIAS focuses on post-experience management education. The business school has many campuses, most importa ...

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 ...

Political career

Early career in local politics

Van Nieuwenhuizen was 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 counci ...

Oisterwijk Oisterwijk () is a municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands. Population centres * Haaren * Heukelom *Moergestel *Oisterwijk Topography ''Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Oisterwijk, 2021'' Transportation * Railway ...

from 1994 to 2006 as well as party group leader from 2002 to 2003. She was also a member and party group leader in the

States-Provincial The provincial council (, PS), also known as the States Provincial, is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

from 2003 to 2007 and a member of the States Deputed of North Brabant from 2007 to 2010, in charge of mobility and infrastructure.

Member of the House of Representatives, 2010–2014

Elected to 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 ...

in the 2010 election, she was reelected in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. In Parliament, she presided over the Finance Committee.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2017

Van Nieuwenhuizen was elected a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

in the 2014 election. In the House of Representatives she was succeeded by

Jeroen van Wijngaarden Jeroen van Wijngaarden (born 29 March 1978) is a Dutch politician who has served as a member of the House of Representatives since 2019, previously holding a seat from 2014 to 2017. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ...

. A member of the ALDE (Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) political faction, she served as her parliamentary group’s deputy coordinator on the

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

(alongside

Sylvie Goulard Sylvie Goulard (born 6 December 1964) is a French politician and civil servant who served as Deputy Governor of the Banque de France from 2018 to 2022. Prior to this, Goulard briefly served as Minister of the Armed Forces from 17 May to 21 June ...

). On the committee, she was the

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

financial technology Fintech, a portmanteau of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are ...

. Later, she joined the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect in 2015. In addition, she held the position of vice-chairwoman of the parliament’s delegation for relations with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Besides her committee assignments, Van Nieuwenhuizen was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Long Term Investment and Reindustrialisation and the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup Intergroups are formed of Members of the European Parliament from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects ...

. Van Nieuwenhuizen mainly focused on matters of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

water transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...

and

energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contri ...

. She served as an MEP from until her appointment to the Government of the Netherlands.

Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, 2017–2021

From 26 October 2017, Van Nieuwenhuizen served as Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management in the third cabinet of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006. After a business career working for Unilever ...

. One of the main policy debates during her tenure revolved around the opening of

Lelystad Airport Lelystad Airport is an airport south southeast of the city of Lelystad in Flevoland, Netherlands. It is the biggest general aviation airport in the Netherlands. The first flights were in 1971 and it became an official airport in 1973. Schiphol ...

to commercial traffic. After the fall of the Third Rutte cabinet and consequently the resignation of

Eric Wiebes Eric Derk Wiebes (born 12 March 1963) is a resigned Dutch politician who served as Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy in the Third Rutte cabinet since 26 October 2017 until 15 January 2021. He is a member of the People's Party for ...

, Van Nieuwenhuizen became ''ad interim'' Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy on 15 January 2021 as well, until then-State Secretary

Bas van 't Wout Bastiaan "Bas" van 't Wout (born 22 April 1979) is a Dutch retired politician who served as Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy in 2021 in the Third Rutte cabinet. A member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), he ...

was selected as his replacement on 20 January 2021.

Later career

In 2021, Van Nieuwenhuizen resigned from government to become chair of Energie-Nederland, the lobbying organization for the country's energy sector.Guus Valk and Philip de Witt Wijnen (August 31, 2021)

�''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

''.

Other activities

* Brabant Intermodal, Chairwoman of the Advisory Board * Hans Nord Foundation, Member of the Board

References

External links

;Official *
Drs. C. (Cora) van Nieuwenhuizen-Wijbenga
Parlement.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Nieuwenhuizen, Cora van 1963 births Living people 20th-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch women politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century women MEPs for the Netherlands Dutch accountants Dutch geographers Dutch lobbyists Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of North Brabant Members of the Provincial-Executive of North Brabant MEPs for the Netherlands 2014–2019 Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands Ministers of Infrastructure of the Netherlands Ministers of Water Management of the Netherlands Municipal councillors in North Brabant Nyenrode Business University alumni People from Oisterwijk People from Ridderkerk People's Party for Freedom and Democracy MEPs People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians Politicians from Rotterdam Social geographers Tilburg University alumni Utrecht University alumni Women government ministers of the Netherlands