In 1993, Schippers became personal assistant to member of parliament Dick Dees.[1] She served in this position until 1994, after which she became a staff member of the VVD parliamentary fraction dealing with healthcare, welfare and sports. After that, Schippers found employment at employers' organisationVNO-NCW. From 1997 until 2001, her portfolio as secretary for VNO-CNW included healthcare and the labour market and from 2001 until 2003 spatial planning.[1]
Political career
Schippers was elected into the House of Representatives in the 2003 general election and was sworn in on 3 June of that year. Geert Wilders became her mentor.[3] In 2006, she was elected as vice chairman of the VVD parliamentary party. Schippers considered this a great honour, but not her greatest success.[3]
As Minister of Health, Schippers was repeatedly accused of being a tobacco industry lobbyist, and was labeled "minister Tobacco", because she had ties to the tobacco industry and because she tried to revert the ban on smoking in bars and cafes.[4][5][6] She also overcame three motions of no confidence in the House of Representatives.
One was issued in 2012, for not adequately informing the States General about the costs of bringing the Olympics to the Netherlands.[7] In the same year another motion of no confidence was issued against her and minister Henk Bleker, for the way they treated the issues surrounding Q-fever.[8] In 2013 a motion was issued regarding her actions with regards to fraud in the healthcare sector.[9] In 2016 this issue regarding her actions with regards to fraud in the healthcare sector was investigated on a Dutch talkshow [10]
In March 2017, she announced she would not return in a new cabinet.[11] On 26 October 2017, she was succeeded by Hugo de Jonge.[12]
Schippers briefly returned to the political scene following the 2017 general election, when Speaker Khadija Arib appointed Schippers as the so-called informateur, whose role is to explore possible governing alliances.[13] In February 2018, she was speculated as a possible successor to the recently resigned Minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra, but she expressed that she was not available for another ministership, wanting instead to spend more time with her daughter.[14]
Schippers was her party's lead candidate in the 2023 Senate election, and she won a seat. Under her leadership, the parliamentary group announced it would support the Spreidingswet, a bill intended to more fairly distribute asylum seekers across the Netherlands.[15] Her party had voted against the bill in the House of Representatives, and party leader Dilan Yeşilgöz had tried to prevent its treatment in the Senate.[16] Schippers wrote the political landscape had changed since the House vote, saying a majority had appeared that would favor a reduction of the influx of refugees.[17]
Personal life
Schippers is married to Sander Spijker,[18] a project manager for P5COM who is specialised in profit improvement and cost reduction in the healthcare industry.[19] They have one child, a daughter.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Edith_Schippers, and is written by contributors.
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