MEP: 2004/2010
Current: Minister of Defencefor Cabinet Rutte II.
Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert was born on April 7th, 1973. She is a Dutch politician of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group from July 20, 2004 until June 17, 2010 when she became a Member of the House of Representatives serving until November 5, 2012. During the Dutch general election of 2012, she was number 4 on the list for the VVD and thus reelected. After the following cabinet formation she became the first female Minister of Defence for Cabinet Rutte II.
The idea for a network of young MEPs was born back in 2004 during a conversation between then young MEPs Cecilia Malmström, Nick Clegg, Michiel van Hulten, Lousewies van der Laan, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Just a little later the idea was consequently picked up and realised by Alexander Stubb, Alexander Alvaro, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Carl Haglund. All these young MEPs moved on to become European Commissioner, British Deputy PM, founder of VoteWatch and the European Council on Foreign Relations, Head of the D66 and chief of Cabinet to Presidency of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Danish PM, Finnish PM, VP of the European Parliament, Dutch Defence Minister of the Netherlands and Finnish Defence Minister, respectively.
EP Page: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28176/JEANINE_HENNIS-PLASSCHAERT_home.html
Social media:
https://twitter.com/JeanineHennis
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeanine-Hennis-Plasschaert/97037683369