VVD MP Mariëlle Paul succeeds the resigned Dennis Wiersma as outgoing minister for primary and secondary education. The Ministry of Education confirmed this on Tuesday. Paul is currently still education spokesperson in the VVD parliamentary group. Paul’s nomination is surprising: the names of VVD party chairman Sophie Hermans and Member of Parliament Bente Becker have been mentioned in recent weeks. Paul will remain education minister until there is a new cabinet. The parliamentary elections will take place on 22 November.
The 56-year-old Paul spoke in the House about, among other things, primary and secondary education. She gained some fame as acting chair of the committee that prepared the parliamentary inquiry into the approach to the corona crisis. She took over from PvdA MP Khadija Arib, who resigned because she felt insufficient support in her group.
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Paul has been a parliamentarian since 2021. In the 2021 parliamentary elections, she received more than 2,600 preferential votes. Paul grew up in Geldrop and studied International Law in Leiden. Before she started her political career, Paul worked for oil company BP, ABN AMRO, PR agency Hilton & Knowlton and NGO Porticus, among others. She was one of the list pushers of the VVD in Amsterdam – where she has lived for thirty years – in the municipal elections in 2022.
Wiersma resigned as minister last month after a large number of complaints about his behavior. Wiersma turned out to have exhibited his borderline behavior (outbursts of anger) in addition to being a minister of education, as well as a caretaker State Secretary for Social Affairs and a Member of Parliament.