Tineke Huizinga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johanna Catharina Huizinga-Heringa

In office
2007 – present

Member of the Tweede Kamer
In office
2002 – 2007

Born 16 February 1960
Dantumadeel, Netherlands
Political party ChristianUnion
Religion Dutch Reformed Church
Website www.tinekehuizinga.christenunie.nl

Johanna Catharina (Tineke) Huizinga-Heringa (Dantumadeel, 16 February 1960) is a Dutch politician. She was a member of parliament for the ChristianUnion from 2002 to 2007. Nowadays she is secretary of state for Transportation and Water Management.

Huizinga grew up in Amersfoort, both her parents were teachers. After attending gymnasium, she began to study law at the University of Utrecht. She became involved in the Christian student's association Ichtus, where she met her future husband. They married in 1982. After passing her candidate exams (roughly equivalent of a bachelor's degree), she stopped her studies and moved to Heerenveen. She became a housekeeper and mother of three children.

She volunteered as translator at a Christian foundation, Open Doors, which advocates the interest of persecuted Christians worldwide. She became involved in the cases of asylumseekers and refugees and worked as a volunteer for VluchtenlingenWerk Nederland. Because of her involvement with social and religious issues, the Reformatory Political Federation asked her to become their top candidate in Heerenven for the 1998 municipal elections. She was elected into the Heerenveen municipal council.

In 2002 she was elected member of Tweede Kamer. She was elected on basis of preference votes. The ChristianUnion only got four seats and she was second candidate, but because so many voters voted for her she entered parliament at the cost of prominent GPV-leader Eimert van Middelkoop. She was member of the parliamentary research committee into the Srebrenica massacre. In the 2003 elections she was re-elected, again with preference votes, now at the cost of Leen van Dijke. She was fourth candidate and the ChristianUnion only got three seats. In parliament she had been occupied with foreign affairs, international development, migration, integration, spatial planning and the environment. She was secretary of the parliamentary party

In other languages