Janneke Marlene "Marja" van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart (born 27 June 1961) is a Dutch politician of the
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...
(CDA). She has been mayor of
Delft since 2 September 2016.
Early life
Van Bijsterveldt attended
nursing school and worked in
healthcare.
Politics
In 1990 she became politically active for the
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...
. She was an
alderwoman (member) of the
Almere
Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer.
Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprise ...
municipal council but left her post after the mayor of Almere's expenses were investigated. Van Bijsterveldt disagreed with the way the other aldermen of the social-democratic
PvdA and the liberal
VVD
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberalRudy Andeweg, Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingsto ...
had dealt with the matter, and following a motion of no-confidence she resigned.
In 1994 she was appointed to be Mayor of
Schipluiden
Schipluiden is a village in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is the seat of the council of the municipality of Midden-Delfland.
The village was founded relatively late in the 15th century and evolved around the Keen ...
and at age 33, she became the youngest Mayor in Dutch history. She also was active within the CDA, first as chair of the
Christian Democratic Youth Appeal
The Christian Democratic Youth Appeal (Dutch: Christen-Democratische Jongeren Appèl), officially abbreviated as CDJA, is the youth organisation of the political party Christian Democratic Appeal in the Netherlands. It came about via the merging o ...
(CDJA), the CDA's youth organization and later as chair of the CDA-women's council. In November 2002 van Bijsterveldt became
party chair of the CDA. She was the first chair directly elected by the CDA membership. She beat the other candidate with 26.542 against 9.574 votes. She was reelected for a period of four years in 2006.
On 22 February 2007 Van Bijsterveldt was appointed State secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the fourth
Fourth Balkenende cabinet
The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Unio ...
. In August 2009 she made a speech in the States General about
Laura Dekker, a thirteen-year-old Dutch citizen whose plans to circumnavigate the world solo caused international controversy. Van Bijsterveldt spoke against Dekker and agreed with the decision to make her a ward of court.
[Van Bijsterveldt ziet solozeiltocht 13-jarige niet zitten]
''Inhetnieuws.nl''.
Decorations
References
External links
;Official
*
J.M. (Marja) van Bijsterveldt-VliegenthartParlement & Politiek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bijsterveldt, Marja van
1961 births
Living people
Aldermen in Flevoland
People from Almere
Chairmen of the Christian Democratic Appeal
Christian Democratic Appeal politicians
Dutch nonprofit directors
Dutch nonprofit executives
Dutch nurses
Mayors in South Holland
Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
Ministers of Education of the Netherlands
Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau
People from Delft
People from Midden-Delfland
Politicians from Rotterdam
Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands
Reformed Churches Christians from the Netherlands
State Secretaries for Education of the Netherlands
Women mayors of places in the Netherlands
Women government ministers of the Netherlands
20th-century Dutch women politicians
20th-century Dutch politicians
21st-century Dutch women politicians
21st-century Dutch politicians