Maria Johanna (Marieke) Sanders-ten Holte (born 7 November 1941) is a Dutch former principal and politician 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).

Early life and education

Sanders-ten Holte was born on 7 November 1941 in

Assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...

, the daughter of a lawyer. After the Municipal Lyceum in Emmen, she studied English at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

and

literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mo ...

at the

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

Career

Sanders-ten Holte started her career as an English teacher. From 1987 to 1999 she was a member of the provincial council of

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

. Afterwards she was vice-principal at the Coornhert Lyceum in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

. From 1992 to 1994 she served as head of the central office of contract activities at the

Inholland University of Applied Sciences Inholland University of Applied Sciences (; ; ) is a university of applied sciences with its campuses located in 8 different cities placed throughout the western Netherlands with an education campus in every main city of the Randstad – the coun ...

Diemen Diemen () is a town and municipality with a population of in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is located approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) southeast of Amsterdam's city centre, within the Amsterdam metropolitan area. Etymology The na ...

. In 1994 she continued her career as director of the Dutch Reading Foundation. From 20 July 1999 to 20 July 2004 she was a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. Sanders-ten Holte was subsequently appointed Advisor to the

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ( French: ''Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe'') or Committee of Ministers ( French: ''Comité des ministres'') is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Forei ...

on the

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) is a multilateral treaty of the Council of Europe aimed at protecting the rights of minorities. It came into effect in 1998 and by 2009 it had been ratified by 39 member ...

and the

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, the ...

from 2004 to 2019. In 2006, she was a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Women's Representative and went to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

to give a speech.

Personal life

Sanders-ten Holte married Pieter Sanders on 18 March 1967 in Emmen, and has two children.

Decorations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders-ten Holte, Marieke Living people 1941 births University of Groningen alumni Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni People from Assen Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion 21st-century women MEPs for the Netherlands 20th-century women MEPs for the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch politicians Members of the Provincial Council of North Holland People's Party for Freedom and Democracy MEPs MEPs for the Netherlands 1999–2004