Peter de Groot
De Groot in 2020
Member of the House of Representatives
Assumed office
31 March 2021
Member of the Harderwijk municipal council
In office
27 March 2014[1] – 22 April 2021[2]
Succeeded byDavid Korver
Personal details
Born
Peter Christiaan de Groot[3]

(1980-05-09) 9 May 1980 (age 43)
Harderwijk, Netherlands
Political partyPeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Children2
Alma materDelft University of Technology

Peter Christiaan de Groot (born 9 May 1980) is a Dutch politician, who has been serving as a member of the House of Representatives since the 2021 general election. He is a member of the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and he also served on the Harderwijk municipal council between 2014 and 2021.

Early life and career

He was born in 1980 in the Gelderland town Harderwijk and grew up in its neighborhood Tweelingstad.[4][5] His father worked as a building contractor. De Groot studied engineering and policy analysis at the Delft University of Technology.[5] He subsequently started working at infrastructure construction company Strukton Civiel, serving as a strategy and marketing manager between 2014 and his election to the House in 2021.[5][3]

Politics

De Groot became an active member of the Harderwijk-Hierden VVD in 2009 and was placed seventh on the VVD's party list in the 2010 municipal election in Harderwijk.[6][7] He did not receive a seat in the municipal council due to his party winning six seats. He was elected to the Harderwijk council in the next municipal election in 2014, when he was his party's third candidate.[8] De Groot served as vice caucus leader of the VVD until he became caucus leader in June 2017, succeeding Bert van Bijsteren.[6] De Groot was re-elected in 2018 as the VVD's second candidate and remained caucus leader.[9]

He ran for member of parliament in the 2021 general election, appearing 24th on the VVD's party list. He was sworn into the House of Representatives on 31 March, having received 1,093 preference votes.[10] He simultaneously vacated his seat in the Harderwijk municipal council.[2] In the House, De Groot became the VVD's spokesperson for infrastructure excluding aviation, shipping, and public transport, and he is on the Committees for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; for Infrastructure and Water Management; for the Interior; and for Public Expenditure. His specialties changed to housing and construction when the fourth Rutte cabinet was installed in January 2022.[4][11] A motion by De Groot was carried to facilitate the transformation of holiday parks with few tourists into places of permanent residence in order to address a housing shortage in the Netherlands.[12] When Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning Hugo de Jonge presented a bill in early 2023 that would allow the minister to require municipalities to have at least 30% of new housing units be public housing, De Groot expressed criticism. He said that too much public housing was being constructed in cities such as Amsterdam and that more homes were required for the middle class. De Groot called the plans absurd and added that De Jonge was planning to roll out future deprived neighborhoods all over the country. He took back his words during a debate the following week after they had caused tension amongst the coalition parties.[13][14]

Personal life

De Groot has a wife called Rosalie and two children.[5] He resides in Harderwijk.[4]

Electoral history

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2023)
Electoral history of Peter de Groot
Year Body Party Pos. Votes Result Ref.
Party seats Individual
2021 House of Representatives People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 24 1,093 34 Won [15]
2023 House of Representatives People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 22 1,515 24 Won [16]

References

  1. ^ "Raadsvergadering" [Council meeting]. Gemeente Harderwijk (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b Dijkstra, Teake (23 April 2021). "Menno Doppenberg leidt fractie VVD in Harderwijk na vertrek Peter de Groot naar Tweede Kamer" [Menno Doppenberg will lead the Harderwijk VVD caucus after departure of Peter de Groot to the House of Representatives]. De Stentor (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b "P.C. (Peter) de Groot MSc". Parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Peter de Groot". Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d Jansen, Marco (1 March 2021). "Harderwijker op weg naar Den Haag" [Harderwijk resident on his way to The Hague]. Harderwijker Courant (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Peter de Groot begonnen als nieuwe fractievoorzitter VVD" [Peter de Groot has started as new VVD caucus leader]. Harderwijker Courant (in Dutch). 14 June 2017. p. 5.
  7. ^ De Goffau, Madelon (17 March 2021). "Spanning bij Harderwijkse VVD'er Peter de Groot: 'Vandaag moet het gaan gebeuren'" [Excitement for Harderwijk VVD member Peter de Groot: 'It has to happen today']. De Stentor (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Veel nieuwe gezichten op lijst VVD Harderwijk-Hierden" [Many new faces on the VVD's list for Harderwijk-Hierden]. De Stentor (in Dutch). 23 November 2013.
  9. ^ "Kandidatenlijst verkiezingen maart 2018" [Party list March 2018 election]. VVD Harderwijk-Hierden (Press release) (in Dutch). 29 November 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 17 maart 2021 Proces-verbaal" [Results general election 17 March 2021 Report] (PDF). Kiesraad (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 14 and 157. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Peter de Groot". VVD (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  12. ^ Hartman, Paul (21 December 2022). "'Vakantiepark moet woonwijk kunnen worden', vindt Tweede Kamer: 'Gezien dat het kan en werkt'" ['It should be possible to turn holidays parks into residential neighborhoods', according to the House of Representatives: 'Seen that it is possible and works']. AD (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  13. ^ Righton, Natalie (17 February 2023). "Nu al onenigheid in coalitie over nieuwe woningwet van Hugo de Jonge" [Already disagreement within coalition about new housing bill by Hugo de Jonge]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  14. ^ "VVD'er neemt uitspraak over 'nieuwe achterstandswijken' terug" [VVD member takes back his words about 'new deprived neighborhoods']. Haarlems Dagblad (in Dutch). ANP. 22 February 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  15. ^ "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. 14–15. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  16. ^ "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. 15–16. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
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