Hendrik Jan Jacobus Talsma (born 8 July 1978) is a Dutch

public prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

and politician. He became a member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on behalf of the Christian Union (CU) in April 2021 due to his participation in the 2019 election.

Early life and career

Talsma was born in 1978 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. His father was a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

in places such as

Den Bommel Den Bommel is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Goeree-Overflakkee, and lies about 14 km south of Spijkenisse. History The village was first mentioned in 1473 as Bommele, and refers to a ...

Harderwijk Harderwijk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city of the Netherlands. It is served by the Harderwijk railway station. Its population centres are Harderwijk and Hierden. Harderwijk is on the western boundary of the Veluwe. The southea ...

Rijssen Rijssen (; nds-nl, Riesn, ) is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is part of Rijssen-Holten, one of thirteen municipalities in Twente. It has almost 28,000 inhabitants. The economy of Rijssen relies mostly on commerce and construct ...

Nijkerk Nijkerk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ''Niekark'') is a municipality and a city located in the middle of the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_ ...

, and

Putten Putten () is a municipality and town in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It had a population of in . It is located in the coastal area of the old Zuiderzee (Southern Sea). To the east of Putten lies the Veluwe, the biggest national par ...

. Talsma went to the Barneveld secondary school Johannes Fontanus College in the years 1990–97, initially at

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 ...

but later at vwo level. He subsequently studied Dutch law at

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 ...

and earned his

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree in 2001. Talsma started his career as a military attorney for the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

and received training to become an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

at the Royal Naval College. He left the military in 2002 to become a public prosecutor

trainee A trainee is commonly known as an individual taking part in a trainee program within an organization after having graduated from higher and technical courses. A trainee is an official employee of the firm that is being trained to the job they wer ...

at the Training and Study Centre for the Judiciary, but he remained a

reserve officer A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

in the rank of

captain-lieutenant Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of navies worldwide and formerly in the British Army. Northern Europe Denmark, Norway and Finland The same rank is used in the navies of Denmark (), Norway () and Finl ...

. He started working at the Public Prosecution Service's national office in 2007, serving as a coordinating public prosecutor for cases. Talsma became an advisor and researcher for the government consultancy Necker van Naem next to his job in May 2021 and started researching the integrity of decentral governments. He stepped down from his position as prosecutor upon his appointment to the Senate. He has been a volunteer for the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

since 2015 and the chair of the Council of

Churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

s of The Hague's

Protestant Church Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

since 2016.

Politics

Talsma joined the

Reformatory Political Federation The Reformatory Political Federation ( nl, Reformatorische Politieke Federatie; RPF) was a minor Protestant Christian political party in the Netherlands. History The RPF was founded in 1975 by three groups of orthodox Christians. The first grou ...

(RPF), which would eventually merge into the Christian Union, in 1996 and served as vice chair of its youth organization between 1997 and 2000. He also assisted the

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...

of RPF/

GPV The Reformed Political LeagueTranslation used by Andeweg and Irwin in ''Governance and Politics of the Netherlands'' (2002: 45) ( nl, Gereformeerd Politiek Verbond, GPV) was an orthodox Protestant political party in the Netherlands. The GPV is o ...

in the

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

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 ...

in the years 1999–2001. Talsma became chair of the Christian Union in The Hague in 2002. He held that position until 2008 and was also a policy officer focused on the judicial system for the party's parliamentary group in 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 period 2006–07. Talsma was Christian Union's seventh candidate in the 2015 Senate election, when his party won three seats. It received one more seat in the 2019 election, but Talsma's fifth place on the

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

was again insufficient to become a senator. He was appointed to the Senate following the election of Mirjam Bikker to the House of Representatives and was sworn in on 6 April 2021. Talsma is on the Committees for the Interior and High Council of State / General Affairs and Royal Family; for Immigration and Asylum / JHA Council; and for Justice and Security. He will appear third on Christian Union's party list in the 2023 Senate election.

Personal life

He is married, has three children, and lives in

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 ...

Decorations

* King Willem-Alexander Inauguration Medal, 2013 (26 June 2014) * Officers' Cross (6 December 2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talsma, Hendrik-Jan 1978 births 21st-century Dutch politicians Christian Union (Netherlands) politicians Dutch prosecutors Living people Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Political staffers Politicians from The Hague Royal Netherlands Navy personnel Utrecht University alumni