In October 2018, the House of Representatives faction of D66 unanimously elected Rob Jetten as successor to the retiring Alexander Pechtold. Jetten has been in the House of Representatives for a year and a half at that time. Jetten, born in 1987, has already gained political experience as a municipal councilor in his hometown of Nijmegen. From 2014 until his appointment as a Member of Parliament, he was an advisor and regional manager at ProRail. Who is Rob Jetten, who was the youngest party leader in the House of Representatives when he was appointed in 2018?
Group leader D66
On Tuesday, October 9, 2018, the House of Representatives faction of D66 unanimously elected Rob Jetten as their new chairman after Alexander Pechtold announced his departure from Parliament and politics three days earlier. The unanimous election as party leader does not mean that Jetten will automatically become the new party leader. The members of D66 will decide on party leadership at a later date in the run-up to the next House of Representatives elections; If the Rutte-III cabinet completes the term, it will be in 2021.
The first challenge for the new party leader towards voters were the elections for the Provincial Council on March 20, 2019. The members of these Provincial Council choose the composition of the Senate, the Senate.
‘I was really one of those nerds who was already reading the newspaper when I was 12 (1999). At that time I was very interested in D66’s medical-ethical agenda. The people behind that party also really appealed to me.’
Rob Jetten
Rob Jetten was born on March 25, 1987 in Veghel, North Brabant. He grows up in Uden in a family with a younger sister. Jetten’s father works in education and his mother in preventive care. Rob is described by his mother as an easy-going boy, sure of himself, independent, someone who knew exactly what he wanted.
After high school at Udens College, he moves to Nijmegen where he studies public administration at Radboud University. In 2008, halfway through his third year of study, he was given the opportunity to do an internship with D66 in the Senate. In 2019, Jetten lives with his friend Sjoerd in Ubbergen, a small village on the east side of Nijmegen. The politician is a dog lover, enjoys running (he is an ambassador of the Zevenheuvelenloop) and traveling. He calls himself a flexitarian; he only eats meat on weekends.
Arson primary school Uden
The murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh on November 2, 2004 sparked Jetten’s interest in politics. Shortly after this murder, the Bedir Islamic Primary School in his hometown of Uden was set on fire. The walls of the primary school are defaced with texts referring to Van Gogh’s murder. A few months before the arson, a mosque in Uden was defaced with racist texts, while racist texts were also applied to a mosque in Jetten’s hometown of Veghel.
After the fire in the Bedir Islamic Primary School, Jetten organized a protest march together with a number of classmates and was allowed to speak in the municipal council .
Municipal councilor of Nijmegen
In 2008 he became chairman of the Young Democrats and in 2010 he was on the list for the municipal elections in Nijmegen. He joins the council and must immediately negotiate his party’s participation in a coalition with GroenLinks and the PvdA. Four years later, at the next municipal elections, he is again the party leader of the Social Democrats in Nijmegen.
ProRail
Rob Jetten first worked at ProRail as a trainee and from August 2013 to December 2014 as a consultant. From December 2014 until his appointment as Member of Parliament in March 2017, he was regional manager of construction management for the North-East of the Netherlands, based in Zwolle.
Additional function
His additional functions include membership from July 2012 to April 2016 of the ISO Advisory Board, the Intercity Student Consultation.
‘I learned what it means to lead and support a team of fifty people in a large organization.’
Rob Jetten about his work at ProRail
House of Representatives
Drs. Rob Arnoldus Adrianus Jetten is in twelfth place on the D66 candidate list in the House of Representatives elections in March 2017. After the elections, his party will have nineteen seats to distribute, meaning Jetten will be sworn in as a Member of the House of Representatives on March 23, 2017.
As a Member of Parliament, Jetten is concerned with the climate, the energy transition, the abolition of the referendum, democratic renewal and Economic Affairs. He is the submitter of the initiative proposal for deconstitutionalization of the appointment of the King’s Commissioner and mayor, which was adopted by the House of Representatives on January 23, 2018 . With this proposal for a constitutional revision, the appointment by the King of the King’s Commissioner and the mayor will disappear.
Climate Act
Due to the appointment in October 2017 of his party colleague Stientje van Veldhoven as State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management in the Rutte III cabinet, Jetten is taking over the co-defense of an initiative bill for developing a policy to gradually reduce emissions in the context of the Climate Act. of Dutch greenhouse gas emissions.
Greening and sustainability
Greening (with regard to climate), sustainability and the growing division in society are important themes for him in the coming years.
Youngest faction leader in the House of Representatives
At the age of 32, Jetten is the youngest faction leader in the House of Representatives in 2019. In October 2019, the House of Representatives had a total of seven party leaders in their thirties; in addition to Rob Jetten, these are Klaas Dijkhoff (born 1981, VVD), Tunahan Kuzu (1981, DENK), Thierry Baudet (1983, Forum for Democracy), Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen (1983, one-man faction), Lilian Marijnissen (1985, SP ) and Jesse Klaver (1986, GroenLinks).
Robot Jetten / Roborob
In the interviews that Rob Jetten gives following his appointment as the new party leader of D66, it is striking that he repeatedly comes up with more or less the same answers, regardless of the questions he is asked. In The Hague circles someone is then called message-resistant. His rehearsed answers and repeated in front of the camera earn him the nicknames Robot Jetten and Roborob. According to parliamentary reporter Frits Wester, Rob Jetten is perhaps the most consistent faction leader of the Binnenhof.
Mail address
Every Member of the House of Representatives has an email address at which he or she can be contacted, including Rob Jetten. His email address is [email protected].