This week, members of the Provincial Council (Provinciale Staten) elected the new Senate (Eerste Kamer). Nine Brabanders got a seat out of the 75 seats from twelve provinces: Five males, and four females, from the age of 40 up to 70. Nine Brabos is one more than in the 2019 elections. Every Brabant senator represents another party, accidentally or not. One member of the Eerste Kamer was an alderman and a deputy mayor in Eindhoven for seven years. In short, a diverse group:
1. Wim Jaspers (BBB)
Wim Jaspers (1962) is from Someren-Heide. There he was a councillor for Lijst Someren-Heide for nine years. He worked as an alderman for four years. He also was on the board of Waterschap De Dommel. Jaspers has a horse farm and works part-time at a tree nursery. Jaspers is a board member of the BBB.
2. Tanja Klip-Martin (VVD)
Since 2016, Tanja Klip-Martin (1954) from Hilvarenbeek has been in the Senate for the VVD. In the period 2013-2021, she was a dike warden of Waterschap Vallei en Veluwe. Before that, she was an alderman in Coevorden and a member of parliament in the province of Drenthe. As an art historian, she also worked at the Noord-Brabant Museum.
3. Roel van Gurp (GroenLinks)
For a while, it seemed he would not return, but thanks to the preference votes of the Brabant GroenLinks party, Roel van Gurp (1956) from Waalwijk became a senator again. He was an alderman in Tilburg for eight years. Until September this year, he was the director of the housing corporation Cascade.
4. Mary Fiers (PvdA)
Mary Fiers (1968) was an alderman and deputy mayor in Eindhoven for seven years. Before that, she was a councillor for the PvdA for four years and worked in addiction care, among other things. She was previously a senator between 2018 and 2019 and since 2021. Fiers is the director of the Green Development fund Brabant (Groen Ontwikkelfonds Brabant).
5. Madeleine van Toorenburg (CDA)
After working as a Lower House (Tweede Kamer) member for 14 years, Madeleine van Toorenburg (1968) from Rosmalen now takes a seat in the Senate. She has been a deputy in Limburg since 2021 and chaired the parliamentary inquiry committee on the Fyra train debacle.
6. Carla Moonen (D66)
Former dike warden for Waterschap Brabantse Delta, Carla Moonen (1963) from Breda has been a senator in the Senate since 2019. She is currently the board chair of Royal NLingeneurs. She has been doing this work since 2018.
7. Alexander van Hattem (PVV)
Alexander van Hattem (1983) from Vinkel has been in the Senate since 2015. He is also a member of parliament in the Den Bosch city council and parliamentary group chairman in the Provincial Council of Brabant. Before joining the PVV, Van Hattem was active in Pim Fortuyn’s party.
8. Tiny Kox (SP)
In 2022, SP Senator Tiny Kox (1953) from Tilburg was discredited for allegedly having links with the Russian secret service, according to investigative journalists of Dossier Center – (research collective of Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky). Kox denied all accusations. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Raad van Europa).
9. Joris van den Oetelaar (Forum for Democracy)
Until March 2023, Joris van den Oetelaar (1983) from Schijndel was a member of the Provincial Council of Brabant. He was the only remaining member of Forum for Democracy, which dropped from nine to one seat in a short time. Van den Oetelaar concealed his role in Thierry Baudet’s publishing company Amsterdam Media Groep, even though he should have reported it according to provincial law.
Source: Omroep Brabant
Translator: Martijn
