Pepijn van Houwelingen

Pepijn van Houwelingen (born 24 February 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 populist party Forum for Democracy (FvD). Van Houwelingen holds a doctorate and has worked for the Netherlands Institute for Social Research for a decade.

In this Dutch name, the surname is Van Houwelingen, not Houwelingen.
Pepijn van Houwelingen
Van Houwelingen (2021)
Member of the House of Representatives
Assumed office
31 March 2021
Personal details
Born
Pepijn van Houwelingen

(1980-02-24) 24 February 1980
Enschede, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Political partyForum for Democracy
Residence(s)The Hague
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Politician
  • social researcher

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 referenda 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]

Forum for Democracy MP

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, referenda, 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 Committees for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; for European Affairs; for Finance; for Health, Welfare and Sport; for the Interior; and for Petitions.[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]

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.[15] 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.[16][17] 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.[18] 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.[19]

Personal life

Van Houwelingen has children and a Japanese wife, and he is a resident of The Hague.[1][3][20]

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. 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). Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  3. "Pepijn van Houwelingen". Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  4. "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. 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. 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. "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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. "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.
  19. "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.
  20. Zihnigasten #26 - Pepijn van Houwelingen (in Dutch). Zihni Özdil. 15 August 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021 – via YouTube.
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