Toine Manders (born 14 March 1956) is a Dutch lawyer and politician who has been serving as

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 ...

(MEP) since 1999. He served 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 ...

from 20 July 1999 until 17 October 2013 as part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). He left the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy to become the party leader for the

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 ...

party in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

. After the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...

, Manders joined the

EPP Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

. Since 2 June 2020 he is no longer representing the 50PLUS party, but the CDA party in the European Parliament.

Early life and education

Manders was born on 14 March 1956 in Stiphout. He attended the Academy for Industrial Design in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, graduating in 1982. He proceeded to study law

Maastricht University Maastricht University (abbreviated as UM; nl, Universiteit Maastricht) is a public research university in Maastricht, Netherlands. Founded in 1976, it is the second youngest of the thirteen Dutch universities. In 2021, 22,383 students studied at ...

, earning his degree in 1993.

Political career

Manders started his political career in the municipal council of Asten, of which he was a member between 1994 and 1999. He concurrently served as a 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 ...

since 1995. In 1999 he resigned from both positions to run for 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 ...

. Manders served for the

in the

from 20 July 1999 until 17 October 2013 as part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. He got enough preferences votes during each of the three elections to be chosen independent of his list position. He left the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy to become the party leader for the

party in the

, but the party didn't get enough votes for a seat. Manders felt that his former party had switched too much toward the political right, he also agreed that the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy's decision to limit their MEP terms to three might have influenced his decision. As Manders already served three terms he would not be eligible anymore. During the 2019 European Parliament elections in the Netherlands, he once again ran for the

party. This time, he won a seat. On 2 June 2020, Manders left 50PLUS and joined 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 ...

party. Since joining the European Parliament in 1999, Manders has served on the

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) is a committee of the European Parliament. Work of the committee The committee is responsible for: * coordination at Community level of national legislation in the sphere of th ...

. In this capacity, he was the Parliament’s

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on the Environmental Liability Directive (2004). In addition to his committee assignments, he is part of the Parliament’s delegation to the

ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly The ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly was created to bring together the elected representatives of the European Union (the Members of the European Parliament) and the elected representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states ("ACP c ...

. In 2009, Manders rejected as "outrageous" an allegation by a Protestant group that the

flag of Europe The Flag of Europe or European Flag consists of twelve golden stars forming a circle on a blue field. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the whole of Europe. Since 1985, the flag has also been ...

is a

marian Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places * Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queenslan ...

symbol, saying that similar symbols were also found in ancient Greece.

References

External links

* *
Biography at parlement.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manders, Toine 1956 births Living people 20th-century Dutch lawyers People from Helmond Maastricht University alumni Municipal councillors in North Brabant Members of the Provincial Council of North Brabant MEPs for the Netherlands 1999–2004 MEPs for the Netherlands 2004–2009 MEPs for the Netherlands 2009–2014 People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians People's Party for Freedom and Democracy MEPs 50PLUS politicians Articles containing video clips MEPs for the Netherlands 2019–2024