Marja van Bijsterveldt

Marja van Bijsterveldt
Minister of Education, Culture and Science
In office October 14, 2010 – November 5, 2012
Prime Minister	Mark Rutte
Preceded by	André Rouvoet
Succeeded by	Jet Bussemaker
Member of the House of Representatives
In office June 17, 2010 – October 14, 2010
State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science
In office February 22, 2007 – October 14, 2010
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Bruno Bruins
Succeeded by	Halbe Zijlstra
Party Chair of the Christian Democratic Appeal
In office November 2, 2002 – February 22, 2007
Leader	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Marnix van Rij
Succeeded by	Peter van Heeswijk
Mayor of Schipluiden
In office September 16, 1994 – January 1, 2003
Preceded by	Jan Waaijer
Succeeded by	John de Prieëlle
Personal details
Born	Janneke Marlene Vliegenthart June 27, 1961 Rotterdam, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Political party	Christian Democratic Appeal
Spouse(s)	Married
Residence	Schipluiden, Netherlands
Occupation	Politician Civil servant
Religion	Protestant Church in the Netherlands

Janneke Marlene "Marja" van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart (born June 27, 1961) is a politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). She was the Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the First Rutte cabinet from October 14, 2010 to November 5, 2012.

Biography

Early life

Van Bijsterveldt attended nursing school and worked in healthcare.

Politics

In 1990 she became politically active for the Christian Democratic Appeal. She was an alderwoman (member) of the Almere municipal council but left her post after the mayor of Almere's expenses were investigated. van Bijsterveldt disagreed with the way the other aldermen of the social-democratic PvdA and the liberal VVD had dealt with the matter, and following a motion of no-confidence in the VVD and the PvdA she resigned.

In 1994 she became mayor of Schipluiden and at the age of 33 years, she was the youngest mayor in Dutch history. She also was active within the CDA. first as chair of the CDJA, the CDA's youth organization and later as chair of the CDA-women's council. In November 2002 Van Bijsterveldt became party chair of the CDA. She was the first chair directly elected by the CDA membership. She beat the other candidate with 26.542 against 9.574 votes. She was re-elected for a period of four years in 2006. On 22 February 2007 Ms Van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart was appointed State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the fourth Fourth Balkenende cabinet. In August 2009 she spoke in the Dutch parliament about Laura Dekker, a thirteen-year-old Dutch citizen whose plans to circumnavigate the world solo caused international controversy. Marja van Bijsterveldt spoke against Dekker and agreed with the decision to make her a ward of court.^[1]

References

• (Dutch) Parlement.com biography

1. (Dutch) Van Bijsterveldt ziet solozeiltocht 13-jarige niet zitten Inhetnieuws.nl