Willemien Meeuwissen (52) is the new VVD party leader during next year’s provincial elections. In September, the current VVD party leader in the Provincial Council was already nominated by her party as a candidate for the party leadership, but now the bullet is finally through the church.
She succeeds deputy Henk Brink, who was already planning to hand over the baton after the 2023 state elections. VVD members voted tonight on the candidacy for the list leader, so the choice fell on Meeuwissen from Assen, who has been in the Drents Parliament for twelve years now.
Meeuwissen is happy to take on the leadership role ‘because there are many issues with major consequences for Drenthe’, she says. “That touches me and I want to commit myself to it. In the province, but also towards The Hague and Brussels, so that people there also understand what their decisions mean in Drenthe,” says Meeuwissen.