Marit Elisabeth Maij (; born 16 January 1972) is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

politician,

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

, diplomat, and civil servant. She was a member of the

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

for the Labour Party between 20 September 2012 and 23 March 2017. She was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

in June 2024.

Early life and education

Marit Elisabeth Maij was born on 16 January 1972 in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

.Drs. M.E. (Marit) Maij
(in Dutch), ''Parlement & Politiek''. Retrieved 8 April 2017. She is the daughter of

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( , CDA) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands. Formed as a federation in 1975 by the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the Christian Historical ...

politician

Hanja Maij-Weggen Johanna Rika Hermanna "Hanja" Maij-Weggen (; ; born 29 December 1943) is a retired Dutch people, Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). Political career From 1989 until 1994 she was Ministry of Transport, Public Works and ...

. During her late teens she was president of LAKS, an association of Dutch pupils. Maij studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

, obtained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the

European University EU Business School is a private business school with campuses in Geneva (Switzerland), Barcelona (Spain), and Munich (Germany). It is a member of OMNES Education Group since 2022. History EU Business School was established in 1973. Its cur ...

, and studied at the

Open University of Catalonia The Open University of Catalonia (; ) is a private Open supported learning, open university based in Barcelona, Spain. The UOC offers graduate and postgraduate programs in Catalan language, Catalan, Spanish language, Spanish and English languag ...

Career

Maij worked as an assistant to the CDA

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

in the

, at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, at the embassies in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, and as an advisor to several other Dutch Ministries.

House of Representatives

As a member of the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid) Maij was a member of the

between 20 September 2012 and 23 March 2017. In parliament, she served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Defence Committee, the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. In addition to her role in parliament, Maij served as member of the Dutch delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

between 2016 and 2017. She was the First Vice-chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination; a member of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by

Member States of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being th ...

(Monitoring Committee); and a member of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons. Between 2016 and 2017, she prepared the Assembly's proposal on measures to prevent and combat online hate.

European Parliament

Maij ran for the

in June 2024 as the third candidate on the shared

GroenLinks–PvdA GroenLinks–PvdA (), alternatively PvdA–GroenLinks, or GreenLeft–Labour in English, is an alliance between GroenLinks (GL) and the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA) in the Netherlands. The Electoral alliance, political allian ...

list. The party won a

plurality Plurality may refer to: Law and politics * Plurality decision, in a decision by a multi-member court, an opinion held by more judges than any other but not by an overall majority * Plurality (voting), when a candidate or proposition polls more ...

of eight seats, and Maij was elected. Her focus has been on social affairs, employment,

development cooperation Development aid (or development cooperation) is a type of aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid by ...

, and

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

, and she has served on the following committees: *

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion ...

* Delegation to the

CARIFORUM The Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) is a subgroup of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and serves as a base for economic dialogue with the European Union. It was established in 1992. Its membership comprises the 15 Caribbean C ...

–EU Parliamentary Committee * 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 ...

* Delegation to the Africa–EU Parliamentary Assembly *

Committee on Development The Committee on Development (Commission du développement, DEVE) is a committee of the European Parliament responsible for promoting, implementing and monitoring the development and cooperation policy of the European Union, notably talks with deve ...

(substitute) *

Committee on Budgetary Control The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesi ...

(substitute) * Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China (substitute) * Delegation for relations with the countries of

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

(substitute)

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maij, Marit 1972 births Living people 21st-century Dutch women politicians Dutch civil servants Dutch women civil servants Dutch expatriates in China Dutch expatriates in Costa Rica Dutch management consultants Dutch women diplomats 21st-century Dutch diplomats Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Dutch MPs 2012–2017 People from Apeldoorn University of Amsterdam alumni Labour Party (Netherlands) MEPs MEPs for the Netherlands 2024–2029 Dutch MPs 2010–2012