Barry Madlener (born 6 January 1969) is a Dutch politician serving as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

since 2012. A member of the Party for Freedom (PVV), he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2006. Madlener became the PVV's leader in 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 ...

following the 2009 election, an office he resigned from upon his reelection to the House of Representatives in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Biography

Early life

During his youth, Madlener lived in the south seaside village of

Oostvoorne Oostvoorne is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westvoorne, and lies about north of Hellevoetsluis. In 2001, the town of Oostvoorne had 5,403 inhabitants, the built-up area of the town was , and ...

with his parents and older sister. He later moved to

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 ''"Ne ...

for his studies. After graduating from high school he became a real estate agent and spent a number of years selling commercial real estate. On 14 March 2002 he was inaugurated as a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

for Livable Rotterdam. Together with Kay van der Linde he was also involved in establishing the

Livable Netherlands Livable Netherlands ( nl, Leefbaar Nederland, LN) was a Dutch political party. Pim Fortuyn began his political career in the party. History Historically there have always been parties in States Provincial (provincial legislatures) and municipa ...

political party.

Livable Rotterdam

At the 2002 municipal election, Madlener was listed eleventh on the Livable Rotterdam list, the local party whose leader

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) ...

was assassinated later that year. Madlener was considered a confidant of Fortuyn. The party won 17 seats in these historical elections on 6 March 2002. As a municipal councillor Madlener was infrastructure spokesman. In that function he was an outspoken supporter of the construction of a campus at the

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humani ...

. He was also in favour of prohibiting municipal civil servants wearing a

veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...

. He put forward two proposals: a proposal to prohibit carrying religious symbols for all civil servants, as well as a second proposal to the same effect for teachers and support staff at schools. He also stated that

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

at Muslim schools should be a mixed gender class.

National and European politics

Elected to the

in the 2006 general election, he was placed seventh on the Party for Freedom list led by

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'' ...

. Madlener resigned as a Rotterdam municipal councillor on 1 July 2007. He led the PVV in the 2009 European Parliament election before returning to the House of Representatives following the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

. Since the 2017 election he has been party spokesman for infrastructure.

Personal life

Madlener, a resident of Rockanje, has a relationship with Jelena, a Croatian by origin, with whom he lives as of 2002. They met at the party office of Livable Rotterdam. Madlener noted in an ''

HP/De Tijd ''HP/De Tijd'' is a Dutch language monthly opinion magazine published by the Audax Groep. Its editorial offices are in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Alongside ''De Groene Amsterdammer'', ''Vrij Nederland'' and ''Elsevier'', it is one of the most influe ...

'' interview that most Livable Rotterdam party officials have foreign life partners; that this peculiarity seems to continue in the PVV, as party leader

is married to a Hungarian.

References

*
Parlement.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madlener, Barry 1969 births Dutch real estate brokers Livable Rotterdam politicians Pim Fortuyn List politicians Living people Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) MEPs for the Netherlands 2009–2014 Municipal councillors of Rotterdam Party for Freedom MEPs Party for Freedom politicians People from Leiden People from Westvoorne