Bernard Johannes "Joost" Eerdmans (born 9 January 1971) is a Dutch politician, broadcaster and former civil servant who has served as Leader of

JA21 JA21 (, backronym for Juiste Antwoord 2021, or 'Right Answer 2021') is a political party in the Netherlands, currently active in the Senate as the Nanninga Group (). It was founded in December 2020 by Joost Eerdmans and Annabel Nanninga after ...

since 18 December 2020, a party he co-founded with Annabel Nanninga. Elected to 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 ...

in the 2021 general election, he took office on 31 March 2021. Eerdmans had previously served as a member of the House of Representatives from 23 May 2002 until 30 November 2006 for the

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing pop ...

(LPF) and 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 * Independe ...

Early life

Bernard Johannes Eerdmans was born on 9 January 1971 in

Harderwijk Harderwijk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city of the Netherlands. It is served by the Harderwijk railway station. Its population centres are Harderwijk and Hierden. Harderwijk is on the western boundary of the Veluwe. The so ...

in the province of

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

in a Reformed family. He graduated at the

Christelijk College Nassau-Veluwe The Christelijk College Nassau-Veluwe (CCNV) is a school in Harderwijk, Netherlands. It was founded in 1922 as a ''Christelijk Lyceum''. The school houses just under 1500 pupils and 150 members of staff. Its rector is Elly Bakker. History The scho ...

. After that, Eerdmans studied

Management Science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

at the Erasmus Universiteit in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

. In 1995 he received his master's degree, having undertaken postgraduate studies at the Public administration School for Public and Environmental Affairs at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

, in 1993.

Politics

After working for some time on projects 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 ...

, Eerdmans worked at the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Justi ...

from 1997 until 1999. In 1999 he became secretary to

Ivo Opstelten Ivo Willem Opstelten (born 31 January 1944) is a retired Dutch politician and jurist. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Opstelten applied at Leiden University in May 1963 majoring in Law and obtaining an Bach ...

, the Mayor of

Pim Fortuyn List

In 2002 Eerdmans contacted

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) ...

, who at that time was busy assembling a list of candidates for his new political party, the

(LPF). Eerdmans was placed nineteenth on the list and after the 2002 election he became a member of the

, while his party joined the

First Balkenende cabinet The first Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Netherlands government from 22 July 2002 until 27 May 2003. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the nationalistic Pim Fortuyn List ...

. After the fall of the cabinet, new elections were called. This time the LPF won only eight seats, but since Eerdmans was second on the list he remained in Parliament. He was removed from the party's parliamentary faction after it was definitively announced that Eerdmans would be on the One NL candidate list for the 2006 election.

One NL

For the 2006 general election, Eerdmans split with the LPF to form a new political party called

One NL Eén NL (One NL) is a Dutch political party founded in September 2006. It took part in the 2006 Dutch election under the leadership of Marco Pastors and Joost Eerdmans, but a dismal election result leaves the political future of the party quite u ...

with

Marco Pastors Marcus Gerhardus Theodorus (Marco) Pastors (born 10 September 1965) is a Dutch civil servant and former politician. Since 1 February 2012 he has been director of the Nationaal Programma Kwaliteitssprong Zuid, a project of the city of Rotterdam ...

Leefbaar Rotterdam Livable Rotterdam ( nl, Leefbaar Rotterdam) is a local political party in the municipality of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which was founded by Ronald Sørensen in 2001. Livable Rotterdam won the council elections of March 2002 due to the chari ...

. After the dismal result of One NL in the 2006 election, Eerdmans left Dutch politics.

Leefbaar Rotterdam

Eerdmans made a return to local politics when he was elected ''

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 ...

'' of Leefbaar Rotterdam on 6 October 2013. In the local elections of 2014 Leefbaar Rotterdam became the biggest party in Rotterdam, meaning the party would get the chance to lead the formation of a new coalition. The party subsequently formed a coalition with the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Demo ...

(D66) and

(CDA), in which Eerdmans became an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members ...

.College van b en w Rotterdam
Rotterdam.nl, 20 May 2014

Forum for Democracy

For the 2021 general election, Eerdmans announced a return to national politics and was to be fourth on the party list of

Forum for Democracy Forum for Democracy ( nl, Forum voor Democratie, FvD) is a right-wing populist Eurosceptic political party in the Netherlands that was founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections ...

(FvD) led by Thierry Baudet. However, he quit the party soon after the announcement, citing the party's handling of antisemitism, homophobia and racism scandals from other party members, before it could be effectuated.

JA21

After leaving the Forum for Democracy, Eerdmans founded a new political party

(''Right Answer 2021'') with ex-FvD members which aimed to compete in the 2021 general election. Eerdmans was appointed party leader and ''

'' of JA21. JA21 gained 3 seats in the parliament and he returned as an MP to the House of Representatives for the first time since 2006.

Career outside politics

Eerdmans was a television host on the Dutch channel

Het Gesprek Het Gesprek (Dutch for "The Conversation") was a Dutch television channel, started on 2 October 2007. The channel offered interviews and debates, broadcast in the evenings. Founders of the television channel were Dutch journalists Frits Barend, ...

. He was also one of the hosts of the Dutch programme ''TROS Regelrecht''. He also serves on the panel for the annual ''

Pim Fortuyn Prize The ''Pim Fortuyn Prize'' ( nl, Pim Fortuynprijs) has been an annual political award in the Netherlands which has been held since 2015. It is named after the late politician Pim Fortuyn. According to the organizers, the award is intended for nomin ...

'' which is awarded to politicians, commentators or public figures who best convey the ideas of Pim Fortuyn.

Electoral history

References

External links

;Official *
Drs. B.J. (Joost) Eerdmans
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Eerdmans, Joost 1971 births Living people 20th-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch politicians Aldermen in South Holland Aldermen of Rotterdam Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Dutch campaign managers Dutch columnists Dutch expatriates in the United States Dutch management consultants Dutch political commentators Dutch political consultants Dutch political party founders Dutch political writers Dutch radio personalities Dutch speechwriters Dutch television presenters Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Forum for Democracy (Netherlands) politicians Independent politicians in the Netherlands Indiana University Bloomington alumni JA21 politicians Livable Rotterdam politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of Rotterdam One NL politicians People from Capelle aan den IJssel People from Harderwijk Pim Fortuyn List politicians Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands