Rita Verdonk

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Rita Verdonk, 2006

Maria Cornelia Frederika (Rita) Verdonk (born October 18, 1955 in Utrecht , Netherlands ) is a Dutch politician. She was Minister for Integration and Immigration in the second and third cabinet of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende (2003–2006) for the right-wing liberal People's Party for Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD ).

In the election of a political leader for the VVD in 2006, she was narrowly beaten by Mark Rutte . Although she was only number 2 on the list, she received more preferential votes than the list first Rutte, which is very unusual and distinguished Rita Verdonk as a popular politician. In 2007 she left her party after being expelled from the VVD parliamentary group. She then founded the right-wing populist party Trots op Nederland (TON). She kept her mandate as a non-attached party, but lost it in the new elections on June 9, 2010. At times, polls predicted dozens of seats for TON.

Life

Verdonk attended the classical grammar school Niels Stensencollege in Utrecht, after which she studied sociology and criminology at the Catholic Radboud University in Nijmegen .

After that, Verdonk was employed in the administration of justice. Until 1988 she was sub-director of the Scheveningen prison and then of the De Schie prison in Rotterdam . Between 1992 and 1996 she worked in the youth prisons division of the Ministry of Justice . From 1996 to 1999 Verdonk worked as a director for the Dutch secret service. From 1999 to 2003 she worked for the international auditing firm KPMG .

politics

During her student days, she was a member of a student activist group called Bond voor Wetsovertreders (BWO) (for example: Association for Lawbreakers ) with close ties to the left-wing PSP ( Pacifist Socialist Partij ). Among other things, the group campaigned for the improvement of prison conditions for prisoners. Although Verdonk did not attract attention with socialist statements, rather with criticism of actually existing socialism , she was given the nickname "Rote Rita". A former treasurer of the BWO suspected Verdonk of having been a police informant in those years.

VVD Minister 2002–2006

In 2002 Verdonk became a member of the right-wing liberal VVD . On May 27, 2003, she was appointed Minister without Portfolio in the second Balkenende cabinet, with responsibility for integration and immigration.

Public opinion about Verdonk is very divided. In December 2005, the Dutch voted Verdonk best politician of the year, but she also came third on the list of worst politicians of the year. Her rigorous handling of asylum seekers and other immigrants earned her the nickname "Iron Rita", which also alludes to the "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher . In January 2006 Verdonk received a Dutch Big Brother Award .

On April 4, 2006, Verdonk announced that she would take over the party leadership of the VVD. Other candidates for the party leadership were the politically more centered State Secretary for Education Mark Rutte and the MP Jelleke Veenendaal. Verdonk's main political advisor is Kay van de Linde , who also served as campaign manager for Pim Fortuyn . On May 31, 2006 Verdonk narrowly lost the runoff against Mark Rutte with 46% of the vote.

Verdonk announced on May 15, 2006 that Ayaan Hirsi would declare Ali's naturalization invalid and that her Dutch citizenship would have to be revoked. Ali resigned from her parliamentary seat the next day. Verdonk was then accused of playing a political game but was able to withstand the lively parliamentary debate and vote of no confidence that followed. After another failed vote of no confidence on June 28, 2006, the ruling party D66 withdrew from the cabinet and Prime Minister Balkenende was forced to dissolve the government cabinet. Until the new elections on November 22, 2006, the previous coalition ruled, without the D66, as a minority cabinet and again with Verdonk as minister in the same functions.

On December 12, 2006, Verdonk triggered another government crisis. The newly elected parliament expressed their suspicions, as she had refused to accept a parliamentary resolution that instructed her not to expel legally rejected asylum seekers for the time being. However, she was supported by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who had also linked his own political future to Verdonk's position as foreign minister. Verdonk's tenure as minister ended in February 2007 when the Balkenende IV cabinet took office , in which the VVD was no longer represented.

In the 2006 elections itself, Verdonk received an unusually high number of individual votes: on the VVD's list, more voters had ticked her (the second one) than the list leader Mark Rutte, a small sensation and a sign of the division between the liberal party and theirs Electorate.

Trots op Nederland

Rita Verdonk, 2009

On September 13, 2007 she was expelled from the VVD parliamentary group because of repeated critical statements. However, it retained its mandate, formed its own parliamentary group and initially stated that it wanted to remain a member of the VVD. When the VVD leadership threatened to expel her from the party, she announced her resignation on October 17, 2007 and the founding of a new political movement called Trots op Nederland (Proud of the Netherlands, TON). On April 3, 2008, Verdonk officially presented their new organization to the public. During the following weeks, TON achieved poll numbers of a good 15 percent. By the end of 2008, however, the popularity of Verdonk, as determined by the Politieke barometer, had fallen below five percent.

In the election, the list came with 52,735 votes to 0.6 percent, so that Rita Verdonk narrowly missed the re-entry into parliament. She blamed the media for not paying her any attention. In March 2010, TON won 62 mandates in 39 municipalities. On October 21, 2011, Rita Verdonk announced that she would leave politics. She wants to set new priorities in her life.

Web links

Commons : Rita Verdonk  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ^ Harm Ede Botje / Sander Donkers: Rita´s rode jaren. Vrij Nederland, May 20, 2006, archived from the original on January 12, 2015 ; Retrieved September 18, 2012 (Dutch).
  2. ^ Minister Verdonk wins negative Big Brother Award. Bits of Freedom, January 28, 2006, accessed September 18, 2012 (Dutch).
  3. ↑ Alix Rijckaert: The Iron Lady of the Netherlands. Der Tagesspiegel, December 13, 2006, accessed on September 18, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Politieke barometer: Survey archive 2008 ( Memento from December 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).
  5. ↑ Everyone stems from: een overzicht. AD.nl, June 11, 2010, accessed September 18, 2012 (Dutch).
  6. ↑ Verdonk lijkt van landelijk toneel verdwenen. Trouw, June 9, 2010, accessed September 18, 2012 (Dutch).
  7. ^ Rita Verdonk stapt uit de politiek. NOS, October 11, 2011, accessed September 18, 2012 (Dutch).
personal data
SURNAME Verdonk, Rita
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Verdonk, Maria Cornelia Frederika (full name); Iron Rita
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch Minister for Integration and Immigration
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Utrecht