Amsterdam PvdA alderman Marjolein Moorman goes to The Hague: ‘This is not time to be on the sidelines’

She is a PvdA leader, in favor of the merger with GroenLinks for years, and fits nicely within the profile that the new party wants to create: less identity policy, and with more emphasis on practical themes, such as healthcare and housing.

The Amsterdam alderman for education and first deputy mayor Marjolein Moorman will make the switch to the politics in The Hague, she announced on Friday through Het Parool. Moorman has reported for a place on the list of candidates of GroenLinks-PvdA for the parliamentary elections.

“This is not time to be on the sidelines,” she wrote in her letter of application. Moorman wants ‘less polarization’ in national politics. “The Hague is too busy with political profiling and too little with practical improvements. That is precisely why I go there: I want to show that things can be done differently.”

It is no surprise that Moorman takes the switch. Earlier she had indicated that she would not want to become an alderman again. Her name has been around in the merger party for ages. Not only as a member of parliament, but even as a future party leader. She herself fully supports party leader Frans Timmermans.

I’m going to The Hague because I want to improve the future of children and equality

Inequality of opportunity

Moorman (51) grew up in a poor family in a flat in Wassenaar, and studied communication sciences at the University of Amsterdam. There she became associate professor of political communication. In 2010 she joined Amsterdam, two years later she became the party chairman and in 2018 alderman. After previous local election defeats, party leader Moorman made the PvdA again the largest party in the city in 2022.

Inequality of opportunity in education is the most important theme with which Moormans has profiled himself. She gained some national fame through her role in the documentary series Classabout inequality of opportunity in Amsterdam. One of its most important initiatives to combat that inequality is the introduction of wide bridge classes, from VWO to VMBO. The initiative has a positive effect on mental well -being, says Moorman, and it is important that children from all educational strokes get to know each other.

Moorman was polled in the previous national elections to become the leader of GroenLinks-PvdA. She wanted it, but when it turned out that European Commissioner Frans Timmermans – at that time the dream prime minister – was also available, she withdrew.

She also thanked for a place on the list. That does not mean that at that time she had no ambitions from The Hague, because if GroenLinks-PvdA had taken last cabinet term, there would have been a place in the cabinet for Moorman.

Place on the list

Anyone who also took a step aside for Timmermans during that period is a former GroenLinks leader and now Vicefraction chairman Jesse Klaver. When listing for upcoming elections, it will be exciting who will be on the list after Timmermans. Moorman has a big advantage: for principle, GroenLinks-PvdA always places a woman in the first or second place. The question is whether that tradition will be maintained in the upcoming elections.

Moorman has not yet made agreements about her place on the list, she says to Het Parool: “That is really up to the candidate committee.” According to Moorman, nothing has been agreed about a possible portfolio. But she also says: “I’m going to The Hague because I want to improve the future of children and opportunities.”

Earlier this month, the alderman sent a letter of fire to the outgoing cabinet due to hundreds of millions of intended cuts on, among other things, broad bridge classes, after -school activities and opportunities. The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht and the Association of Dutch Municipalities also signed the Brand Letter. Moorman told Het Parool “without exaggerating” to become nauseous of the cuts.

Although she wants to go to The Hague to prevent polarization, she can be quite critical of the national ministers. About outgoing State Secretary for Education Mariëlle Paul (VVD), she had said that the equality of opportunities does not arise, but pretends: “It is harmful,” Moorman wrote in her fire letter. “And if it happens consciously, I think it’s malignant.”

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