Marije Cornelissen
Encyclopedia
Marije Cornelissen is a Dutch politician
Politics of the Netherlands
The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...

. In the 2009
European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...

 she was elected in the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

.

Life before politics

Cornelissen grew up in a leftwing and feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

 family. At a young age she participated in the demonstrations
Hollanditis
Hollanditis was a term coined in 1981 by the American historian Walter Laqueur. It was used to describe the wave of pacifist neutralism that swept through the Netherlands in the first half of the 1980s and which influenced similar grass roots movements in other European countries...

 against the presence of weapons of mass destruction in the Netheralnds
Netherlands and weapons of mass destruction
Although the Netherlands does not have weapons of mass destruction made by itself, the country participates in the NATO nuclear weapons sharing arrangements and trains for delivering U.S...

. As the only atheist student she attended a strict catholic primary school. Cornelissen studied international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

 at the University of Utrecht, where specialized in conflict studies.

Since the 1990s Cornelissen has been active in the GreenLeft. Between 1996 and 1997 she worked as assistant to MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

 Nel van Dijk on women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...

 (between 1996 and 1997). In addition she was active in the Feminist Network of the GreenLeft (chair between 1996 and 2001) and she was active in the European Green Party
European Green Party
The European Green Party is the Green political party at European level. As such it is a federation of green parties in Europe.-History:...

, where she coordinated the dialogue between East and West European Greens (Dutch delegate between 1999 and 2006). She also worked at the party bureau (1997–1999) and was a member of the party board (2001–2005). Between 2002 and 2003 she was international secretary of the GreenLeft where she participated in the Dutch demonstrations against the War in Iraq. In 2004 European Parliament election she was put on the eight spot of the GreenLeft list.

Until 2009 she worked as director of the North Holland
North Holland
North Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...

 North Anti-Discrimination bureau. Since 2006 he is a member of the burough council
Stadsdeel
A stadsdeel is the name used for city districts in some of the larger municipalities of the Netherlands.Amsterdam calls 7 of its 8 deelgemeenten stadsdeel...

 in Amsterdam South Amstel. She chairs the council. Within the GreenLeft she is a member of the party council between 2005 and 2007 and 2008 and 2009.

Political life

In 2009 she was a candidate for the European Parliament for the GreenLeft. The party congress put her on the #3 which deemed unelectable. As a candidate for the European Parliament Cornelissen campaigned on social affairs, emancipation and anti-discrimination. She advocated increased solidarity between the member states of the European Union. Unexpectedly the GreenLeft won a third seat in the election
European Parliament election, 2009 (Netherlands)
The European Parliament election of 2009 in the Netherlands was the election of the delegation from the Netherlands to the European Parliament in 2009 and took place on June 4, 2009. Seventeen parties competed in a D'Hondt type election for 25 seats...

 and Cornelissen was elected.

After the election she became a member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality is a committee of the European Parliament.-Chair:-Members:*BASTOS, Regina *BAUER, Edit *BOZKURT, Emine *ČEŠKOVÁ, Andrea *CORNELISSEN, Marije *COSTA, Silvia *CYMAŃSKI, Tadeusz...

 and Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs is a committee of the European Parliament.- Chairman :2009 - : -External links:*...

 She is also one of the vice-chairs of the Greens - European Free Alliance political group

External links

  • Profile at zuideramstel.amsterdam.nl
  • Marije Cornelissen at GroenLinks.nl
  • Marije Cornelissen at Elsevier.nl
  • presentation at het party congress
    Party Congress
    A party congress is a general conference of a political party. The congress is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. In most parties the party congress is the highest decision making body of the organisation and elects the party's leadership bodies such as the National Executive...

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