Laurence Jeanne Arnoldine Joseph Stassen (born 8 February 1971, in

Sittard Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg. The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37.500 inhabitants in 2016. In its east, Sittard borders the German municipali ...

) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and a former freelance television presenter of the regional broadcasting TV

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

. There she presented the program sponsored ''Limburg Leeft'' (translated: ''Limburg Lives'') about residency and life in Limburg. In the 2009 European Parliament elections, Stassen was ranked as fourth on the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

(PVV) list. The PVV won four seats, but the lower-ranked party leader

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

was elected by preference votes. Wilders, however, had already declared that he would remain in the

House of Representatives of the Netherlands The House of Representatives (, pronounced ; commonly referred to as the ', literally "Second Chamber of the States General") is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. ...

and not take up his seat in the European Parliament, thus Stassen became a Member of the European Parliament on 14 July 2009. On 10 December 2010, it was announced that Stassen would run for PVV party leader in the province of Limburg in the 2011 provincial elections. She was so elected and retained her membership of the European Parliament. On 21 March 2014, she left the PVV after allegedly discriminatory remarks by Geert Wilders about Moroccans. She stayed on until the

European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

in May 2014, but immediately left 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 ...

in Limburg, returning her seat to the Party for Freedom. Stassen then stood in the 2014 European elections for the constituency of

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

in the UK as the number one candidate for the Eurosceptic party An Independence from Europe. She was not elected. In December 2014, Stassen announced that she had joined the party

For the Netherlands VoorNederland (translated: For Netherlands or Pro-Netherlands) was a Dutch political party. It was previously active in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands as the Group Bontes/Van Klaveren ( nl, Groep Bontes/Van Klaveren), a parliament ...

, which had been founded by two fellow former PVV members earlier that year. Laurence Stassen is married with two children. She lives in

Echt Echt may refer to: * Echt, Aberdeenshire, a village in Scotland * Echt-Susteren, a municipality in the Netherlands ** Echt, Netherlands Echt (; ) is a city in the Dutch municipality of Echt-Susteren in the province of Limburg, Netherlands. ...

References

External links

L.J.A.J. (Laurence) Stassen
at www.parlement.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Stassen, Laurence 1971 births Living people Dutch television presenters VoorNederland politicians Independent politicians in the Netherlands Members of the Provincial Council of Limburg MEPs for the Netherlands 2009–2014 21st-century women MEPs for the Netherlands Party for Freedom MEPs Party for Freedom politicians People from Echt-Susteren People from Sittard 21st-century Dutch politicians Dutch women television presenters