Early life

Rosenmöller was born into a Catholic family in Den Helder in 1956; his father was CEO of Vroom & Dreesmann. After finishing atheneum-b in Haarlem in 1974, Rosenmöller studied sociology.^[1] During his study Rosenmöller became associated with radical socialist, Maoist groups.^[2] He stopped studying in 1978 to work in the Port of Rotterdam. He worked for the shipping company Müller Thomson. In 1985 he became a member of the board of the Transportation branch of the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV) in Rotterdam.^[1] He negotiated with the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO–NCW) and acted as spokesperson during several strikes. Rosenmöller got national fame because of his radical position in these negotiations and strikes. He was a member of the Group of Marxist–Leninists/Red Dawn (GML/RM) from 1976 to 1982. The GML/RM wanted to establish a communist state in the Netherlands and sympathized with several communist regimes, such as the People's Republic of China, the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia. Rosenmöller was criticized about 20 years later because of his past with this organisation. The human right abuses by these regimes were often cited by critics.

Political career

In 1989, he became member of the newly founded party GroenLinks. GroenLinks was formed by four other parties, but Rosenmöller joined as an independent. In the 1989 general election, he was the sixth on the list of GroenLinks and the first independent; he was narrowly elected to the House of Representatives. In 1993 he was candidate party leader together with Leoni Sipkes [nl], but they lost the internal elections to Mohamed Rabbae and Ina Brouwer. After the defeat of GroenLinks in the 1994 general election, Rosenmöller became the party leader.^[1]

As party leader he provided opposition against the first and second cabinets of Prime Minister Wim Kok. In 2002, however, the political climate had changed. Rosenmöller participated in the opposition against the rise of Pim Fortuyn. At a party congress, he described Fortuyn's political position as "not just right but extreme right".^[3] He lost the 2002 general election after the assassination of Fortuyn. In the hardened political climate after the murder of Fortuyn, serious threats against Rosenmöller's life and family were made. Because of this, Rosenmöller left politics.^[1] His successor as leader of GroenLinks was Femke Halsema.

As member of parliament, Rosenmöller showed interest in the situation of the Netherlands Antilles and social participation of immigrants.^[1] In addition to being leader of the parliamentary group, he was also spokesperson for foreign affairs, finance, traffic and water management and Antillean affairs. He was chairman of the standing committee for Netherlands Antillean and Aruban Affairs.

In 2018, Rosenmöller was approached by Jesse Klaver with the question of whether he would like to become party leader for GroenLinks in the Senate.^[4] He accepted the offer and after the 2019 Senate election he became leader of the eight-person group. The party congress of 4 February 2023 again chose Rosenmöller as the party leader for the 2023 Senate election. After these elections, GroenLinks and the Labour Party were merged. Since 13 June 2023, Rosenmöller has been leader of this group.

Television

In 2003, after leaving politics, Rosenmöller became a television presenter for the Interkerkelijke Omroep Nederland (IKON), which was an ecumenical broadcasting organisation.

Other activities

Between 2003 and 2005 Rosenmöller chaired the Commission on Participation of Women from Ethnic Minorities [nl] (PaVEM), a government advisory committee on the position of migrant women, in which Queen Máxima had a seat.^[1]