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Marjolein Faber

Marjolein Hillegonda Monica Faber-van de Klashorst (born 16 June 1960) is a Dutch politician. Since 6 December 2023, she has been a member of the House of Representatives for the Party for Freedom (PVV). In June 2024, she was proposed by Geert Wilders as the new Minister of Asylum and Migration, of the Schoof cabinet.^[1]

Career before politics[edit]

Faber worked in the Lichtenberg hospital in Amersfoort between 1978 and 1986. Between 1986 and 2011 she worked as a software engineer and IT specialist at various companies.^[2] Around this time she saw a TV advert for the Party for Freedom, with Geert Wilders and Fleur Agema, and applied to become a possible representative of the party.

Legislative career[edit]

2011–2023: Senate and Provincial Council[edit]

Faber became a member of the States of Gelderland for the Party for Freedom on 10 March 2011. She joined the Senate later that year, and she served as the PVV's parliamentary leader in the body starting on 10 June 2014, replacing Marcel de Graaff.^[3] It was reported in 2015 that she had paid her son's company for maintaining the PVV Gelderland website with funds of the PVV parliamentary group. It was later discovered that Faber's son had also created the website for the PVV parliamentary group in the Senate.^[4] In 2017, Faber – together with PVV members Wilders and Markuszower – protested against the appointment of PvdA member Ahmed Marcouch as mayor of Arnhem, with a large banner that displayed 'No Arnhemmistan! We are losing our country!'.^[5]

During the campaign for 2019 provincial elections, she argued for tax relief, and expressed her opposition to multiculturalism.^[6] In response to a stabbing incident in Groningen that same year, she claimed the perpetrator had a North-African skin colour. Despite the three victims stating the perpetrator was white, Faber stuck to her original claim.^[7] She complained about Dutch funding for the United Nations in a 2020 debate, and she said that organization was engaged in antisemitism, terrorism, and omvolking (similar to replacement). Prime Minister Mark Rutte subsequently noted the latter term originated in Nazi ideology.^[8]

2017–2024: NATO Parliamentary Assembly[edit]

In 2017, Faber became a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a body of almost 300 parliamentarians from the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), supplemented by delegates from the associated member states. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is not a parliament, but a consultation of parliaments.^[9]

2023–2024: House of Representatives[edit]

Faber was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2023, and she became the PVV's spokesperson for criminal law and human trafficking.^[10] This ended her memberships of the Senate and the States of Gelderland.^[11] She advocated solving a shortage of prison cells by implementing austerity measures in the prison regime, and she opined that the Public Prosecution Service was demanding too lenient sentences.^[8] In the House of Representatives, Faber is a member of five standing committees: Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Justice and Security, Kingdom Relations, and Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

Executive career[edit]

Faber was nominated in June 2024 to serve as Minister of Asylum and Migration in the new Schoof cabinet.^[8] Her selection was affirmed following crisis talks between the coalition parties after VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz had raised Faber's past controversial statements and tone.^[12][13]

Electoral history[edit]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2023)

References[edit]