Louis Bontes (; born 28 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and former

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. He was 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 ...

(2009–2010) and a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of 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. ...

(2010–2017) for 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) until 2013 and as an independent since. He was the cofounder and chairman of the political 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 ...

(VNL) from 2014 to 2015.

Early life and career

Louis Bontes was born on 28 February 1956 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 ...

in the Netherlands. He worked many years in the Dutch police force, towards the end as district commander

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

for the Rotterdam-Rijnmond area.

Politics

Bontes represented the

(PVV) until 2013, and focused on matters of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, civil law,

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

and

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

(

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, Middle and

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). From 2009 to 2010, he was an MEP for the PVV. In October 2013, after Bontes talked to the media about his being disappointed with the methods of the PVV, the party's parliamentary group expelled him.
PVV zet Kamerlid Louis Bontes uit fractie
, ''

Algemeen Dagblad The ''Algemeen Dagblad'' () or ''AD'' () (English: "General Daily Paper") is a Dutch daily newspaper based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. History and profile ''Algemeen Dagblad'' was founded in 1946. The paper is published in tabloid format and is ...

'', 2013. Bontes remained in parliament as 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 ...

, and stated he would keep voting along with the PVV. In May 2014, Bontes founded the political party

(VNL) with other former PVV members

Joram van Klaveren Joram Jaron van Klaveren (born 23 January 1979) is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Party for Freedom he was an MP from 17 June 2010 until 21 March 2014. He subsequently was an independent until his term in office ended on 23 March 2017. ...

, and

Johan Driessen Johannes Henricus Antonius (Johan) Driessen (born 4 June 1981 in Cuijk en Sint Agatha) is a Dutch politician and former lawyer. He was an MP for the Party for Freedom (PVV) from 17 June 2010 to 19 September 2012. He focused on matters of develop ...

. Bontes stepped down as chairman of VNL, after

Bram Moszkowicz Abraham Maarten 'Bram' Moszkowicz (; born 26 June 1960) is a Dutch jurist and former lawyer. Early life and education Abraham Maarten Moszkowicz was born on 26 June 1960 in Maastricht in the Netherlands. He is the son of Berthe Bessant and law ...

was selected to become ''

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 t ...

'' in the next elections. Bontes has been banned from entry to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

since 2015. His term in the House ended on 23 March 2017.

References

*
Parlement.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bontes, Louis 1956 births Living people Dutch police officers Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) MEPs for the Netherlands 2009–2014 Party for Freedom MEPs Party for Freedom politicians Independent politicians in the Netherlands Artists from Rotterdam Utrecht University alumni VoorNederland politicians The Hague University of Applied Sciences alumni