Pepijn van Houwelingen
Van Houwelingen (2021)
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
31 March 2021 – 5 December 2023
Personal details
Born
Pepijn van Houwelingen

(1980-02-24) 24 February 1980
Enschede, Netherlands
Political partyForum for Democracy
Children2
ResidenceThe Hague
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Politician
  • social researcher

Pepijn van Houwelingen (born 24 February 1980) is a Dutch politician, who served as a member of the House of Representatives between the 2021 and 2023 general elections. He is a member of the conservative populist party Forum for Democracy (FvD). Van Houwelingen holds a doctorate and has worked for the Netherlands Institute for Social Research for a decade.

While a member of parliament, Van Houwelingen received media attention for several controversial statements with regard to his opposition to globalist ideas and the government's measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early life and career

Van Houwelingen was born in 1980 in the Overijssel city Enschede and grew up in its Helmerhoek neighborhood with his three sisters and one brother.[1] He attended the gymnasium of the secondary school Jacobus College starting in 1992 and studied industrial engineering at the University of Twente from 1998 until 2002.[2] Van Houwelingen subsequently did another master's in (philosophy of) economics and another bachelor's in Japanese studies at the same time at Erasmus University Rotterdam.[3][4] He moved to Japan in 2004 to study at the Hiroshima City University and obtained his PhD in 2009 after finishing his dissertation titled Social capital in Japan.[1][3]

After finishing his studies, Van Houwelingen worked for half a year in demand and supply management at Canon Europe in Amstelveen. In February 2010, he took a job as a scientific assistant specialized in citizen participation at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research, a government agency, where he remained employed until he became an MP.[3][5][6]

Politics

While working at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research, Van Houwelingen voiced his opposition to what he perceived as the growing power of the European Union (EU).[7] He also wrote that he favored direct democracy with referendums and that he supported decentralization.[6]

Van Houwelingen was one of the initiators of Burgercomité-EU (EU citizen committee), which aims to make decisions surrounding the EU more democratic. After a law was passed that made it possible to trigger an advisory referendum, the organization cooperated with GeenStijl and Forum for Democracy to get a referendum on the approval of the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement.[7] The referendum was held in 2016 after enough signatures had been collected, and Burgercomité-EU campaigned against the agreement. Van Houwelingen also co-authored a manifesto opposing it.[8] A few weeks after the referendum, NRC Handelsblad revealed that a novel by Van Houwelingen had been published in 2010 under the pseudonym Vossius. The book's main character argues in favor of city-states, discrimination of minorities, oppression of women, and the abolition of human rights, and he calls the EU the source of many evils.[6]

At the end of 2019, Van Houwelingen was involved in the establishment of the broadcasting corporation Ongehoord Nederland (Unheard Netherlands), which would become part of the Dutch public broadcasting system.[9] Van Houwelingen was a guest during its first broadcast on 22 February 2022.[10]

First House term

In the 2021 general election, Van Houwelingen was Forum for Democracy's eighth candidate. He was elected, receiving 430 preference votes, and was sworn into the House of Representatives on 31 March 2021.[11] Van Houwelingen became the FvD's spokesperson for the European Union, referendums, social affairs, and public health.[4] Finances and economic affairs were added to his specialities when three Forum for Democracy MPs left the party in May 2021.[12] He is a member of the United States contact group and of the Committees for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; for European Affairs; for Finance; for Health, Welfare and Sport; for the Interior; for Petitions; and for Social Affairs and Employment.[3] While a House member, Van Houwelingen argued against scale-ups and mergers in the public sector, and an essay by him about the issue called Microfobie (Microphobia) was published by Forum for Democracy's scientific institute in 2021.[13] His position led him to voice his opposition to the proposed merger of the municipalities of Scherpenzeel and Barneveld.[14] He also attempted to undo a 2019 merger between Groningen en Haren through a bill, but it did not receive a House majority.[15] Besides, Van Houwelingen opposed the power and influence held by supranational organizations such as the European Union, the World Health Organization, and the World Economic Forum, considering it to be a globalist power grab.[16] In 2022, he introduced a bill in the House together with party leader Thierry Baudet to reintroduce consultative referendums comparable to those organized in Switzerland.[17] Some parties complained that the bill remained vague on details, and the proposal was ultimately rejected.[18]

During a legislative meeting in April 2021 about a mandatory quarantine for travelers returning to the Netherlands because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he called the measure totalitarian and compared its reasoning to that of the persecution of Jews during World War II.[19] In November 2021, comments by Van Houwelingen during a House debate again stirred controversy. When Sjoerd Sjoerdsma (D66) asked him to distance himself from comparisons between measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus and the persecution of Jews, Van Houwelingen told him "Your time will come, because there will be tribunals." in reference to Sjoerdsma's support of the government's COVID-19 policy, which he described as criminal. He clarified after an adjournment that his statements were not intended as a personal threat to Sjoerdsma but that he does believe major crimes were being committed, which warrant an investigation.[20][21] Later that day, Speaker of the House Vera Bergkamp wrote that threats and intimidation of any form are completely unacceptable and that she wanted a dialogue with the parliamentary groups about debate manners.[22] This later led to a ban on threats in the House's rules of procedure.[23] A motion by Van Houwelingen in December to rule out a vaccine mandate did not receive support from a House majority even though a majority opposed such a mandate at the time.[24] Van Houwelingen sat on a committee to prepare a parliamentary inquiry into the governments approach to the corona pandemic. Media reported in February 2023 that some committee members had demanded the departure of Van Houwelingen and Wybren van Haga (BVNL) for promoting prejudiced views. The committee reconciled soon after, but the start of the inquiry was postponed indefinitely in June when only four parties had nominated an MP to take part. Van Houwelingen had been put forward by FvD.[25]

In September 2022, Van Houwelingen posted a picture on Twitter of Ministers Ernst Kuipers and Karien van Gennip raising a flag of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) alongside the same picture where the flag had been replaced by the one of Nazi Germany. It was accompanied by the caption "The facade and reality".[26] Both cabinet members filed a criminal complaint, and D66 parliamentary group leader Jan Paternotte pled for Van Houwelingen to be suspended as a House member through a complaint to the Board of Inquiry on Integrity for endangering the ministers.[27] Van Houwelingen removed his social media post in favor of another one with the same image where the SDGs flag had been replaced by a communist hammer and sickle flag, stating this was a more appropriate comparison.[28] He did not apologize for his original tweet but did call it possibly inappropriate and clumsy.[29] Van Houwelingen later received a €450 fine from the Public Prosecution Service for insult.[30]

2023 general election

Van Houwelingen ran for re-election in November 2023, having been placed fourth on the party list. He did not receive a second term, as Forum for Democracy lost five of its eight seats.[31] However, it was announced that Freek Jansen, who was elected, will temporarily step down such that Van Houwelingen can help prepare a parliamentary inquiry into COVID-19 as a member of parliament. NOS reported that such a temporary switch unrelated to health reasons had not occurred in the House since 1977.[32]

Personal life

Van Houwelingen has two children and a Japanese wife, and he is a resident of The Hague.[3][33]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Pepijn van Houwelingen
Year Body Party Pos. Votes Result Ref.
Party seats Individual
2021 House of Representatives Forum for Democracy 8 430 8 Won [34]
2023 House of Representatives Forum for Democracy 4 5,608 3 Lost [31]

Bibliography

  • (2010, Aspekt) Oneigentijds (Not contemporary) under the pseudonym Vossius
  • (2015, Blue Tiger) Manifest aan het volk van Nederland (Manifesto to the people of the Netherlands) with Arjan van Dixhoorn
  • (2021, Renaissance Instituut) Microfobie: De cult van het kolossale (Microphobia: The cult of the colossal)

References

  1. 1 2 Pepijn van Houwelingen over Enschede, angst voor het kleine en verzet | 1Twente Het Jaar 2021 [Pepijn van Houwelingen about Enschede, fear for the small and resistance | 1Twente The year 2021] (in Dutch). 1Twente Enschede. 22 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  2. ↑ "Biografie, onderwijs en loopbaan van Pepijn van Houwelingen" [Biography, education, and career of Pepijn van Houwelingen]. Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pepijn van Houwelingen". Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Tweede Kamer" [House of Representatives]. FVD (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  5. ↑ "Dr. P. (Pepijn) van Houwelingen". Parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 Heck, Wilmer; Stokmans, Derk (30 April 2016). "De machtsfantasie van een referendumactivist" [The power fantasy of a referendum activist]. NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  7. 1 2 Heck, Wilmer; Huiskes, Jurgen (30 March 2013). "Oekraïne-referendum: de belangrijkste vragen en antwoorden" [Ukraine referendum: the most important questions and answers]. NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  8. ↑ Dirks, Bart; Visser, Jeroen (1 February 2016). "Wie spelen er een rol bij het Oekraïne-referendum?" [Who are the important players in the Ukraine referendum]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  9. ↑ Mebius, Dion (18 March 2021). "Van Fortuyns chauffeur tot de schrijver van een opzienbarende roman" [From Fortuyn's driver to the author of a sensational novel]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch).
  10. ↑ Beukers, Gijs (1 March 2022). "Ombudsman NPO onderzoekt Ongehoord Nederland, klachten over desinformatie" [NPO ombudsman investigates Ongehoord Nederland, complaints about disinformation]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  11. ↑ "Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 17 maart 2021 Proces-verbaal" [Results general election 17 March 2021 Report] (PDF). Kiesraad (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 145 and 238. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  12. ↑ "Tweede Kamer" [House of Representatives]. FVD (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ↑ Van de Veen, Coen (13 October 2021). "Hoe Den Haag uit Nederland verdween". De Groene Amsterdammer (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  14. ↑ Hardeman, Johan (15 June 2021). "Minister Ollongren over fusie Scherpenzeel: 'Provincie moet goed uitleggen waarom fusie noodzakelijk is'" [Minister Ollongren about merger Scherpenzeel: 'Province has to explain properly why merger is necessary']. de Gelderlander (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  15. ↑ Van Wijngaarden, Arend (5 April 2023). "Splits Haren en Groningen weer in twee gemeenten. Dat voorstel kwam voorbij in de Tweede Kamer en vooral de stem van Boer Burger Beweging valt op" [Separate Haren and Groningen into two municipalities again. That was proposed in the House of Representatives, and the vote of the Farmer–Citizen Movement is especially remarkable]. Dagblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  16. ↑ "Twitterende Raad van State deelt sneer uit aan FvD-Kamerlid" [Tweeting Council of State sneers at FvD House member]. Mr. (in Dutch). 2 June 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  17. ↑ "Baudet wil nieuw referendum invoeren" [Baudet wants to introduce a new referendum]. BNR Nieuwsradio (in Dutch). 5 July 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  18. ↑ Seine, Famke (10 October 2023). "Tweederde Eerste Kamer vóór correctief bindend referendum – of het er ook komt, hangt af van de verkiezingsuitslag" [Two thirds of the Senate in support of a binding corrective referendum – whether it will actually be implemented depends on the results of the election]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  19. ↑ "FVD vergelijkt quarantaineplicht met Jodenvervolging" [FvD compares mandatory quarantine to persecution of the Jews]. De Telegraaf (in Dutch). 28 April 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  20. ↑ Brouwers, Arnout (17 November 2021). "Kamerdebat geschorst na bedreiging door FvD-Kamerlid: 'Er komen tribunalen'" [House debate adjourned after threats by FVD MP: 'There will be tribunals']. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  21. ↑ Van Soest, Hans (17 November 2021). "Forum voor Democratie-Kamerlid tegen D66'er: 'Er komen tribunalen!'" [Forum for Democracy House member to D66 member: 'There will be tribunals!']. Het Parool (in Dutch). ANP. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  22. ↑ "Bergkamp wil gesprek over 'ontoelaatbare' uitingen in debat na dreigementen FvD-Kamerlid Van Houwelingen" [Bergkamp wants conversation about 'unacceptable' expressions in debate after threats by FVD House member Van Houwelingen]. De Telegraaf (in Dutch). 17 November 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  23. ↑ Slendebroek, Wian (14 March 2023). "Tweede Kamer past eigen spelregels aan: in de vergaderzaal zijn bedreigingen vanaf nu expliciet verboden" [House of Representatives changes its own rules: Threats in the debate hall are explicitly forbidden from now on]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  24. ↑ "Kamer tegen vaccinatieplicht, maar verwerpt desondanks motie" [House opposes vaccine mandate but dismisses motion nonetheless]. Reformatorisch Dagblad (in Dutch). ANP. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  25. ↑ Rutten, Rik; Wieringa, Rein (27 June 2023). "De parlementaire enquête naar het coronabeleid komt er nu niet, en misschien nooit" [The parliamentary inquiry into the pandemic response will not happen now, and maybe ever]. NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  26. ↑ "Kuipers en Van Gennip beraden zich op stappen na nazitweet FvD'er Van Houwelingen" [Kuipers and Van Gennip are considering steps following Nazi tweet FVD member Van Houwelingen]. NOS (in Dutch). 25 September 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  27. ↑ Von Piekartz, Hessel (26 September 2022). "D66 wil FvD-Kamerlid Van Houwelingen schorsen na nazivergelijking ministers" [D66 wants to supsend FVD House member Van Houwelingen following Nazi comparison ministers]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  28. ↑ "Ministers doen aangifte tegen FVD'er Van Houwelingen om tweet met nazivlag" [Ministers file criminal complaint against FVD member Van Houwelingen because of tweet with Nazi flag]. NU.nl (in Dutch). 30 September 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  29. ↑ "FvD-Kamerlid Van Houwelingen over nazivlagtweet: 'Beter niet kunnen doen'" [FVD House member Van Houwelingen about Nazi flag tweet: 'Better to not have done it']. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 28 September 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  30. ↑ "FvD-Kamerlid Pepijn van Houwelingen krijgt 450 euro boete vanwege nazivlag op Twitter" [FVD House member Pepijn van Houwelingen receives a €450 fine for Nazi flag on Twitter]. Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 6 April 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  31. 1 2 "Proces-verbaal van de uitslag van de verkiezing van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2023 d.d. 4 december 2023" [Report of the results of the election of the House of Representatives on 4 December 2023] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 4 December 2023. pp. 45–102, 213. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  32. ↑ "Ongebruikelijke wissel bij FvD: Van Houwelingen vervangt Jansen tijdelijk als Kamerlid" [Unusual change at FvD: Van Houwelingen will temporarily replace Jansen as member of parliament]. NOS (in Dutch). 2 January 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  33. ↑ Vijf uur met Pepijn van Houwelingen [Five hours with Pepijn van Houwelingen] (in Dutch). Blue Tiger Studio. 16 July 2023. Event occurs at 1:22:11. Retrieved 1 October 2023 – via YouTube.
  34. ↑ "Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 145–146. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
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