Henricus Cornelis Maria "Henk" Krol (; born 1 April 1950) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

journalist, publisher, entrepreneur, activist and politician. He has been 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 10 September 2014. He used to be the leader of

50PLUS 50PLUS (; abbreviated 50+) is a political party in the Netherlands that advocates pensioners' interests. The party was founded in 2009 by Maurice Koopman, Alexander Münninghoff, and Jan Nagel. Henk Krol served as the party's leader from 2016 to ...

, but left the party in 2020, due to disagreements with the rest of the party's leadership. From 3 May to 18 October 2020, Krol was the leader of the

Party for the Future The Party for the Future (; ) was a short-lived political party in the Netherlands that had been active in the House of Representatives as the Krol/Van Kooten-Arissen Group (). Founded in May 2020, it had intended to participate in the 2021 ge ...

Career

Krol served as the main spokesman for 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) in the

from 1978 until 1985. Krol was editor-in-chief of the magazine ''

Gay Krant ''Gay Krant'' was a Dutch magazine written for the gay community, published every month since 1980. It was published by the Best Publishing Group under leadership of Henk Krol. The magazine has its headquarters in Amsterdam. After a bankruptcy in ...

'', which he founded in 1980. Between March 2011 and September 2012, he was member of the States-Provincial of

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 w ...

. For the 2012 general election Krol was the ''

lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is ...

'' (top candidate) for the Pensioners' Party 50PLUS. Krol was the

Parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are their ...

of 50PLUS in the

from 13 September 2012 until 4 October 2013 and a Member of the House of Representatives from 20 September 2012 until 4 October 2013. On 4 October 2013, '' de Volkskrant'' published an article alleging that Krol withheld pension money from his employees from 2004 until 2007, and then again in 2009, while working for the ''Gay Krant''. ''De Volkskrant'' said that the tip-off leading to the article had come via Publeaks NL, a new Dutch anonymous whistleblowing initiative. The same day, Krol announced his resignation from the House of Representatives in a letter, admitting that he made 'many mistakes'. Although he did not address the allegations directly, he concluded that "it is impossible for me to continue in my function as representative". He was replaced in the House of Representatives by Martine Baay-Timmerman on 29 October 2013. He was elected with preferential votes for the Ouderen Appèl party to the municipal council of Eindhoven in March 2014. Krol returned to the House of Representatives on 10 September 2014, when Martine Baay-Timmerman went on sick leave. After disagreements with the party top of 50PLUS he resigned from the leadership position and exited the party. He founded the

together with formerly independent member of the House of Representatives

Femke Merel van Kooten Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen (born 9 November 1983) is a Dutch politician and former member of the House of Representatives. She was first elected in the 2017 general election, in which she stood as a member of the Party for the Animals (Pa ...

, but left the party a few months later.Henk Krol na ruzie met Henk Otten weg bij Partij voor de Toekomst
NOS, 19 October 2020

Decorations

Order of Orange-Nassau ribbon - Knight Grand Cross

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

(Netherlands, 1999)

References

External links

*
H.C.M. (Henk) Krol
Parlement.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Krol, Henk 1950 births Living people 20th-century Dutch businesspeople 20th-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch businesspeople 21st-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch politicians 50PLUS politicians Dutch critics Dutch elder rights activists Dutch health and wellness writers Dutch journalists Dutch magazine editors Dutch newspaper editors Dutch newspaper publishers (people) Dutch political activists Dutch public relations people Dutch publishers (people) Dutch relationships and sexuality writers Dutch television editors Dutch television producers Gay politicians Dutch gay writers Independent politicians in the Netherlands Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau Leaders of 50PLUS LGBT broadcasters from the Netherlands LGBT businesspeople from the Netherlands LGBT journalists from the Netherlands LGBT members of the Parliament of the Netherlands LGBT rights activists from the Netherlands Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of North Brabant Municipal councillors of Eindhoven People from Tilburg Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni