Gerdi Verbeet

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Gerardina Alida Verbeet
Chair of the Tweede Kamer
In office 2006 – present
Preceded by	Frans Weisglas
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	18 April 1951 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Political party	Labour Party (PvdA)
Occupation	Member of the Tweede Kamer
Website	http://www.gerdiverbeet.nl/

Gerardina Alida (Gerdi) Verbeet (Amsterdam, 18 April 1951) is a Dutch politician. Since 2006 she is chair of the Tweede Kamer. Since 2001 she has been member of the Tweede Kamer for the Labour Party.

Verbeet attended the gymnasium in Amsterdam and began a study in social geography, which she did not finish. Instead she studied Dutch language and literature and worked as a teacher. Between 1994 and 2001 she was political advisor of state secretary Tineke Netelenbos and the PvdA-leader Ad Melkert.

In May 2001 she became member of parliament filling the vacancy Rob van Gijzel left. In the disastrous 2002 elections she was not re-elected. But in July 2002 she re-entered parliament, filling the vacancy of Eveline Herfkens. In the 2003 elections and 2006 elections she was able to retain her seat. In parliament Verbeet concentrated on sport, elderly policy and state pensions.

On 6 December 2006 she was elected chair of the Tweede Kamer, in an anonymous vote she beat ministers Maria van der Hoeven of the Christian Democratic Appeal and Henk Kamp of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. She is the second female chair (after Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven) and the second chair elected in open elections (after Frans Weisglas).

In February 2007, her actions as chair led to minor scandal. She interrupted Sietse Fritsma, member of the Tweede Kamer for the Party for Freedom when he presented a motion. The motion proposed to change the law so that ministers and state secretaries can only have one nationality and that pending this change candidate state secretaries Ahmed Aboutaleb and Nebahat Albayrak would not be appointed. During a brief suspension of the meeting of the Tweede Kamer, she explained to Fritsma that the second was impossible because with out a law to base it on, the Tweede Kamer could not interfere in this matter. Fritsma changed his motion accordingly. Later Party for Freedom-leader Geert Wilders dismissed her actions as party-political.