Eva Vlaardingerbroek | |
---|---|
Born | Eva Lotte Louise Vlaardingerbroek 3 September 1996 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Alma mater | Utrecht University (LL.B.) Leiden University (LL.M.) |
Occupation(s) | Pundit, activist |
Political party | FvD (2016–2020) |
Spouse | Francesco Gargallo di Castel Lentini (m. 2024) |
Eva Lotte Louise Joan Vlaardingerbroek (born 3 September 1996) is a Dutch far-right wing political commentator, activist and conspiracy theorist. [1] She has been particularly vocal about issues surrounding farmers in the Dutch farmers' protests.
Vlaardingerbroek has made numerous appearances with American conservative Tucker Carlson, arguing that the Dutch farming crisis is not a result of the nitrogen crisis, [2] instead suggesting the Great Replacement Conspiracy Theory, a recurrent far-right conspiracy theory, in her speeches and discussions.
Vlaardingerbroek was born on 3 September 1996 in Amsterdam to a Catholic mother and a Protestant father, both of whom work in the classical music industry. Her father, Kees Vlaardingerbroek, is a musicologist and former concert director. She has a younger brother, and her paternal grandfather was a Dutch Reformed pastor. She was baptized as a child in the Protestant faith. [3]
Vlaardingerbroek grew up in Hilversum and studied law at Utrecht University, where she participated in the Utrecht Law College honours program. After studying for some time in Germany at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and completing her bachelor's degree, she began the master's degree in Encyclopedia and Philosophy of Law at Leiden University. She wrote her thesis on The Contractualization of Sex in the #MeToo Era and completed her master's with honours. [4]
During her studies, Vlaardingerbroek joined political party Forum for Democracy (FvD) in 2016. In 2019, she gave a speech against modern feminism at that year's party congress. [5] In 2019, she took up an internship with the FvD faction in the European Parliament in Brussels. After that, Vlaardingerbroek left Brussels behind to work in Leiden as a lecturer-researcher, during which she published several opinion pieces in Elsevier Weekblad . [5] In October 2020, she put her position at the university and her dissertation on hold to focus fully on a political career, followed by FvD leader Thierry Baudet's announcement on 31 October that Vlaardingerbroek would fill the fifth spot on the party's candidate list for the House of Representatives.[ citation needed ]
After a dispute over Baudet's leadership and antisemitic remarks made by members of the youth wing publicly escalated in November 2020, [6] [7] Vlaardingerbroek announced on WNL's morning show Goedemorgen Nederland on 26 November that she had chosen sides against Baudet. [8] Later that same day, Vlaardingerbroek and Joost Eerdmans, Annabel Nanninga, and Nicki Pouw-Verweij released a joint statement announcing their departure from the party. [9] At the time this meant the end of Vlaardingerbroek's political career. In April 2023, Algemeen Dagblad published an exposé that revealed how in 2021, months after the conflict and split, FvD had threatened her and other former members with hefty fines for allegedly breaching party confidentiality. Vlaardingerbroek was never officially served nor found guilty of breaching party confidentiality and described it as an attempt to scare her into silence. [10]
In November 2023, Vlaardingerbroek stated that she would vote for the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the 2023 Dutch general election. [11]
In December 2019, Het Parool stated that Vlaardingerbroek "shocked the feminist Netherlands with a speech against modern feminism", [12] in which she called it "a form of hardcore cognitive dissonance". She stated that "neo-feminists have no reflection on what is retrograde or problematic about multiculturalism, especially on the subject that interests them: sexism. So, this feminism is indeed one of the biggest shams of our time." [13] She received scathing criticism by a number of Dutch commentators for her remarks, after Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant and some of their journalists branded Vlaardingerbroek the "shield maiden of the far right" and an "Aryan princess" who constituted a danger to the rights of women and minorities. [14] [15] In an interview with Bert Dijkstra of De Telegraaf, Vlaardingerbroek fought back, calling the article a politically motivated "character assassination". [14] Vlaardingerbroek has also spoken against abortion, arguing that life begins at conception. [16]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vlaardingerbroek spoke out as a firm critic of lockdowns, mRNA vaccines, and other COVID-19 restrictions, stating that the Western world was "losing its freedom". [17] In January 2021, Vlaardingerbroek made a live appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight stating that Europe was "heading towards a new system, a tyrannical regime, of mass surveillance and control". [18] Also in 2021, Vlaardingerbroek worked for some time in Sweden as presenter of her own pan-European talk show "Let's Talk About It" on the YouTube channel of Swedish media outlet Riks, which is affiliated with the far-right party Sverigedemokraterna . [19] On 1 January 2022, she began working as a legal advisor at a law firm, where she focused on human rights and civil litigation. [20] After more than four months, this employment was terminated. [21]
In early July 2022, Vlaardingerbroek spoke out about the Dutch nitrogen crisis on the American television channel Fox News in conversation with Tucker Carlson. [22] In reference to the Great Replacement and Great Reset conspiracy theories, she argued that the crisis was being used to steal land from farmers in order to build homes on it for immigrants. [23] [24]
Vlaardingerbroek regularly appears as a commentator on Mark Steyn's talk show on the British television channel GB News, [25] as well as on the right-wing populist YouTube channel Achtung, Reichelt! by Julian Reichelt, the former editor-in-chief of the German tabloid Bild .[ citation needed ] On 11 March 2023, Vlaardingerbroek participated in the pro-farmer Zuiderpark protest against the government in The Hague. [26] At the protests, Vlaardingerbroek stated that "our farmers are fighting against the worst kind of injustice". [27]
She has an active presence on Twitter, where she has one million followers. She describes herself as a “Shieldmaiden of the far right”. [28] At CPAC 2024, Vlaardingerbroek asserted that the Great Replacement conspiracy theory is real, citing that 56 percent of the population of Amsterdam, where she lives, consists of immigrants. [a] She added, “I think we all know what they mean with the word ‘diversity.’ It means less white people. Less of you,” apparently addressing the audience. [30]
Until late 2020, Vlaardingerbroek was in a relationship with French author Julien Rochedy, who served as president of Génération Nation, the youth wing of the French right-wing populist party Front National from 2012 to 2014. [31] [32]
In November 2020, during the conflict within the FvD, Vlaardingerbroek publicly opposed party leader Thierry Baudet, who then revealed that they had had a brief affair in 2017. [33] Vlaardingerbroek responded by clarifying that it had been nothing more than a fleeting relationship. [34]
In late 2021, PragerU co-founder Dennis Prager introduced Will Witt, an American former PragerU commentator, to Vlaardingerbroek. [35] In a since-deleted Instagram post, Witt announced their engagement on 29 March 2022. [36] [37] The engagement later ended at an unspecified time.
In April 2023, Vlaardingerbroek and her father were confirmed as Catholics in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory in London. [3] [38] [39] [40] She chose the confirmation name Joan in honor of Saint Joan of Arc. [41] [42]
On 13 July 2024, Vlaardingerbroek married Francesco Gargallo di Castel Lentini, an Italian lawyer based in Rome, in a Catholic ceremony. [43] [44] On 11 October 2024, Vlaardingerbroek announced that she was pregnant with their first child. [45] [46]
Arend Dirk Glas is a Dutch bobsledder who has competed between 1992 and 2006.
Theo Upt Hiddema is a Dutch lawyer, media personality and politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2017 to 2020. A member of Forum for Democracy (FvD), he became a member of the Senate in 2021 following the resignation of Nicki Pouw-Verweij.
Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet is a Dutch politician, author, and self-declared conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), for which he has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2017, with the exception of his paternity leave. He serves as the party's parliamentary leader. A controversial politician due to his political views, as well as his use of personal attacks against his opponents, he was physically assaulted twice while campaigning in 2023.
Forum for Democracy is a far-right political party in the Netherlands, founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections in the 2017 general election, winning two seats in the House of Representatives.
Anne Fleur Dekker is a Dutch left-wing publicist, feminist and journalist. Dekker has written opinion pieces and blogs for politically left-wing websites and magazines, and has been an activist for several causes. She is a former GroenLinks party employee in Hilversum.
The Otten Group is a political party in the Netherlands. It was formed following an internal conflict between Henk Otten, former treasurer and board member of Forum for Democracy (FvD), and its leader Thierry Baudet.
The Dutch farmers' protests are a series of demonstrations by Dutch livestock farmers, characterised by the use of tractors to block roads, and occupy public spaces. The protests were initially triggered in October 2019 by a proposal in parliament to halve the country's livestock in an attempt to limit agricultural pollution in the Netherlands, but protesting farmers have frequently told media that they are motivated by a perceived lack of respect for their profession by the Dutch populace, media and politicians. The protests combined several action groups and an amalgamation of larger goals, which included less government regulation for farmers, more air time for pro-farmer sentiments, and more policy to punish Shell and Tata Steel for their part in the emission crisis.
Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2023 to elect the members of the House of Representatives. The elections had been expected to be held in 2025, but a snap election was called after the fourth Rutte cabinet collapsed on 7 July 2023 due to disagreements on immigration policy between the coalition parties. The incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that he would not lead his party into the election and that he would retire from politics.
Robert Jan P. Baljeu is a Dutch politician, who served as a temporary member of the Senate and as a member of the States of North Holland between 2019 and 2023. After he was expelled from the right-wing populist party Forum for Democracy (FvD) shortly after his election, he became a member of the splinter party Group Otten.
Annabel Nanninga is a Dutch politician and journalist who was the co-founder of the JA21 party. She currently leads the party in the Senate and is a representative of the Provincial Council of North Holland. She has been a member of Amsterdam city council since 2018.
Nicki Janna Francisca Pouw-Verweij is a Dutch politician. She has served as member of the House of Representatives since March 2021.
Olaf René Ephraim is a Dutch investment banker and politician. He worked for the banks MeesPierson and Fortis before joining the conservative and right-wing populist party Forum for Democracy (FvD). Ephraim served as the party's treasurer and was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2021 general election. He left Forum for Democracy in May 2021 and joined Wybren van Haga's new political party Belang van Nederland (BVNL). He left its parliamentary caucus ahead of the 2023 general election, continuing as an independent politician, but he retained his membership of BVNL.
Frederik Jan Harm "Freek" Jansen is a Dutch politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives (2021–2024) for the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD) party. He previously chaired the FvD youth wing, the Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie (2017–2021).
Simone Kerseboom is a Dutch politician of the conservative populist party Forum for Democracy (FvD). She has been a member of the House of Representatives since the 2021 general election, and she served on the States of Limburg in the years 2019–2023. Kerseboom lived in South Africa for about twenty years and holds a doctorate from Rhodes University.
Following the Dutch general election on 17 March 2021, a cabinet formation led to the establishment of the fourth Rutte cabinet in 2022. The coalition included the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Democrats 66 (D66), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union (CU), the same parties from the preceding third Rutte cabinet. This formation process, lasting 299 days, was the longest formation in Dutch history.
Gideon Frederik Cornelis van Meijeren is a Dutch civil servant and politician, who has been representing Forum for Democracy (FVD) in the House of Representatives since the 2021 general election. He also held a seat in the States of South Holland and was elected to the municipal council of The Hague in 2022. He previously worked as a legislative adviser for the government. His opposition to the government's policy to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic and his statements regarding democracy – including speculation about an overthrow of the government – have drawn stark criticism from political leaders. In June 2024, Van Meijeren was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for incitement to violence for his utterances in past speeches and interviews.
Julien Louis Rochedy is a French politician from the National Rally. He was President of Génération Nation from 2012 to 2014.
Paul Marie Louis Frentrop is a Dutch politician, professor and journalist who has been a member of the Senate for the Forum for Democracy (FvD) party from 2019 to 2022.
Henk Otten is a Dutch politician and economist. He has been a member of the Senate since June 2019. He was the co-founder of the party Forum for Democracy (FvD) along with Thierry Baudet. He served as FvD treasurer from 2016 to 2019.
Lidewij G. de Vos is a Dutch politician of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD).