Wybren van Haga
Wybren van Haga | |
|---|---|
 Van Haga (2019) | |
| Member of the House of Representatives | |
| Assumed office 31 October 2017 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Wybren Ridley van Haga 31 January 1967 The Hague, Netherlands |
| Political party | Independent (2019–2020, since 2021) |
| Other political affiliations | Forum for Democracy (2020-2021) People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (1992–2019) |
| Residence(s) | Haarlem, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Delft University of Technology |
| Occupation |
|
| Profession | Engineer |
Wybren Ridley van Haga (born 31 January 1967) is a Dutch politician and engineer who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2017. He was initially elected as a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), but was expelled from the party in 2019, causing the third Rutte cabinet to lose its parliamentary majority. Van Haga subsequently sat as an independent MP before joining Thierry Baudet's Forum for Democracy party, where he was placed second on the party list in the 2021 election. He has since quit Forum for Democracy and created his own political party Belang van Nederland.
Early life, education and military service
Van Haga was born in 1967 in The Hague and grew up in Haarlem. His father is Dutch and his mother was originally from Britain.[1] He completed the gymnasium with the natural sciences specialization. He studied electrical engineering at the Delft University of Technology.[2] He also completed the first phase of a law study at Leiden University. He served his mandatory military service as a commando.[2]
Business career
He subsequently worked as an engineer for the Shell Oil Company, and was based variously in Scotland, Gabon and Oman before starting a property development business.[3]
Political career
Van Haga first joined the VVD in 1992. In 2010, he was elected as a municipal councilor in Haarlem.[4] During the 2017 general election, he was elected as an MP for the VVD in the House of Representatives. During the election, his candidacy was endorsed by Labour Party politician and former mayor of Haarlem Bernt Schneiders.[5]
In 2017, Van Haga was investigated over an alleged concealment of a number of problems with local regulations during his time as a councilor.[6] In 2019, he was expelled from the VVD parliamentary group after he was convicted for drunk driving and accused of interfering with his business operation as an MP.[7] This caused the third Rutte cabinet to lose their parliamentary majority. Van Haga subsequently sat as an independent before announcing he had become a member of the Forum for Democracy party.[8] Van Haga already had close ties with the FvD group as an independent.
Van Haga left FvD together with two others in response to a poster put out by the party which compared the COVID-19 lockdowns to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. He has since created his own political party called Belang van Nederland (BVNL). The new party has three seats in the House of Representatives.[a] Van Haga has described it as 'classical liberal' and 'right-wing'.[9]
Personal life
Van Haga is married and has four children.[1]
Notes
- ^ Formally, the parliamentary group is known as Group Van Haga (Dutch: Groep Van Haga)
References
- ^ a b "Home – 2". vanhaga.nl. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ^ a b Ton F. van Dijk (6 August 2018). "Tweede Kamerlid Wybren van Haga door VVD-fractie onder curatele gesteld".
- ^ 76ste Kamerlid vooral bekend om gedoe met zijn pandjes, NOS, 24 September 2019
- ^ Pandjesbezitter Wybren van Haga (VVD) voert politiek alsof het oorlog is, NRC Handelsblad, 11 March 2018
- ^ Riessen, Door Paul van (20 December 2017). "Typisch: de innige band van de in opspraak geraakte VVD'er Van Haga met Bernt Schneiders (PvdA)". www.quotenet.nl. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ^ VVD onderzoekt Kamerlid Wybren van Haga, NRC Handelsblad, 19 December 2017
- ^ Van Haga is weg, wat doet hij met zijn zetel?, NRC Handelsblad, 24 September 2019
- ^ Forum voor Democratie presenteert top 10 kandidaten Tweede Kamer, NOS.nl, 31 October 2020
- ^ "Ex-FvD MP Wybren van Haga starts new party". netherlandsnewslive.com. 2 July 2021.
External links
Media related to Wybren van Haga at Wikimedia Commons- Ir. W.R. (Wybren) van Haga, Parlement.com
- Articles containing Dutch-language text
- Articles with short description
- Use dmy dates from December 2020
- Commons category link is the pagename
- 1967 births
- Living people
- Dutch people of British descent
- 20th-century Dutch businesspeople
- 20th-century Dutch engineers
- 21st-century Dutch businesspeople
- 21st-century Dutch engineers
- 21st-century Dutch politicians
- Delft University of Technology alumni
- Dutch electrical engineers
- Dutch political party founders
- Forum for Democracy (Netherlands) politicians
- Independent politicians in the Netherlands
- Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
- Municipal councillors of Haarlem
- People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians
- Real estate and property developers
- Belang van Nederland politicians