Emma Eleonora (Esmé) Wiegman-van Meppelen Scheppink (born 24 July 1975 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

) is a former

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

politician. As a member of the

ChristianUnion The Christian Union ( ; CU) is a Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more socially conservative ...

(ChristenUnie) she was an MP from 1 March 2007 to 19 September 2012. She focused on matters of the

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and

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Biography

Education and activities

Wiegman studied

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

and

Dutch literature Dutch-language literature () comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers. Dutch-language literature is the product of the Netherlands, ...

with a specialization in modern Dutch and

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

literature at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

. After finishing her study she worked as an editor for publishers and a magazine. Wiegman became an active member of the youth organisation of the

Reformatory Political Federation The Reformatory Political Federation (; RPF) was a minor Protestant Christian democracy, Christian political party in the Netherlands. History The RPF was founded on 15 March 1975 by three groups of orthodox Christians. The first group were mem ...

(RPF) in 1989, later she became a board member of the RPF itself. After the RPF merged into the

in 2002, Wiegman was elected a local representative in the council of her hometown

Zwolle Zwolle () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel ...

Political career

In the 2007 national elections she was elected first runner-up for the lower house of Netherlands' Parliament. After the ChristianUnion became a participant in the newly formed

fourth Balkenende cabinet The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The Cabinet of the Netherlands, cabinet was formed by ...

- and two representatives taking positions in that cabinet - Wiegman became a member of Parliament in March 2007. Her term ended in September 2012.

After politics

She found a new position with the (LHV) as regional manager for the North (Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, Zwolle/Flevoland). On February 1, 2014, she became director of the . She left that position on March 1, 2018, to become the director of the Cooperative Palliative Care Netherlands.

Personal life

Esmé Wiegman is married, mother of three and a member of the

Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Netherlands, consisting of historical Calvinism, Calvinist and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. It w ...

References

*
Parlement.com biography
1975 births Living people Christian Union (Netherlands) politicians Leiden University alumni Dutch MPs 2010–2012 Dutch MPs 2006–2010 Municipal councillors of Zwolle Politicians from Haarlem Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands Reformatory Political Federation politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians {{Netherlands-politician-stub