PvdA member Gerdi Verbeet came in at 63rd place in the Chamber: “Those were the days”

Gerdi Verbeet was destined to enter education. Both her parents were teachers and this path was a logical choice for Gerdi. “Look, as a girl you had little choice. From the moment we had television, I had a huge interest in what was happening in The Hague, but I had no idea how you could become something in politics.”

So it became education. But it was a difficult time. At that time there were more teachers than students. She was therefore only given a limited number of hours. In the end, she decided to say goodbye to education. “I wanted to have a full job and not be dependent on a few hours.”

Politics

She takes a photo with Tineke Netelenbos standing. At the time, Verbeet was political assistant to Minister Netelenbos. “I enjoyed working for her at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.”

Verbeet hadn’t thought of his own political career at the time. Only when former minister Nel Ginjaar-Maas said: “Now you will certainly go into politics yourself”, that idea started playing with her. She told Netelenbos what Ginjaar-Maas had said. It was also a foregone conclusion for Netelenbos that Gerdi Verbeet would enter politics.

Ultimately, she was number 63 on the Labor Party’s list of candidates. “That’s what you came into the Chamber with at the time. Those were the days”, she adds with a broad smile.

Gerdi Verbeet does not have to think long about an answer to the question ‘what makes a good representative of the people’. “That you are really interested in what people are doing. That you also want to know the seam of the stock. That you want to know what people are concerned about. That you try to match the political agenda with that of the society.”

Chair

In the end, Gerdi Verbeet also decided to run for the presidency of the House of Representatives. “I have applied on the basis of Article 50 of the constitution: the States General represent the entire people. How can we ensure that together, 150 members of the House of Representatives and 75 members of the Senate, we really hear all voices in interpret society in a way that people recognize that the MPs are busy with the things that also keep them awake.”

In line with that task was also that representatives of the people express themselves in a language that is understandable to everyone. She gives an example of former minister De Jager who talked about haircuts when it comes to budget cuts. “I didn’t understand that: haircuts to me is that you have your hair cut at the hairdresser. Just say what it says, people are not stupid. They understand that very well.”

But on the other hand, the language often becomes very clear in The Hague, she must admit. “Sometimes also intimidating. On the other hand, those are the exceptions that are of course endlessly repeated, which makes it seem a lot. The most important thing is that the Chamber does its job well. And also that you do it in a calm tone with each other. But sometimes the problems are so great that I can well imagine the excitement.”

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