Wybren Ridley van Haga (born 31 January 1967) is a Dutch politician and engineer who was a member of the House of Representatives between 2017 and 2023. He was initially elected as a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), but was expelled from the party in 2019, causing the third Rutte cabinet to lose its parliamentary majority. Van Haga subsequently sat as an independent MP before joining Thierry Baudet's Forum for Democracy party, where he was placed second on the party list in the 2021 election. He has since quit Forum for Democracy and created his own political party Belang van Nederland.
Early life, education and military service Van Haga was born in 1967 in The Hague and grew up in Haarlem. His father is Dutch and his mother was originally from Britain. He completed the gymnasium with the natural sciences specialization. He studied electrical engineering at the Delft University of Technology. He also completed the first phase of a law study at Leiden University. He served his mandatory military service as a commando.
Business career He subsequently worked as an engineer for the Shell Oil Company, and was based variously in Scotland, Gabon and Oman before starting a property development business.76ste Kamerlid vooral bekend om gedoe met zijn pandjes, NOS, 24 September 2019
Political career Van Haga first joined the VVD in 1992. In 2010, he was elected as a municipal councilor in Haarlem.Pandjesbezitter Wybren van Haga (VVD) voert politiek alsof het oorlog is, NRC Handelsblad, 11 March 2018 During the 2017 general election, he was elected as an MP for the VVD in the House of Representatives. During the election, his candidacy was endorsed by Labour Party politician and former mayor of Haarlem Bernt Schneiders.
In 2017, Van Haga was investigated over an alleged concealment of a number of problems with local regulations during his time as a councilor.VVD onderzoekt Kamerlid Wybren van Haga, NRC Handelsblad, 19 December 2017 In 2019, he was expelled from the VVD parliamentary group after he was convicted for drunk driving and accused of interfering with his business operation as an MP.Van Haga is weg, wat doet hij met zijn zetel?, NRC Handelsblad, 24 September 2019 This caused the third Rutte cabinet to lose their parliamentary majority. Van Haga subsequently sat as an independent before announcing he had become a member of the Forum for Democracy party.Forum voor Democratie presenteert top 10 kandidaten Tweede Kamer, NOS.nl, 31 October 2020 Van Haga already had close ties with the FvD group as an independent.
Van Haga left FvD together with two others in response to a poster put out by the party which compared the COVID-19 lockdowns to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. He has since created his own political party called Belang van Nederland (BVNL). The new party had three seats in the House of Representatives. Van Haga has described it as 'classical liberal' and 'classical right-wing'. He ran for re-election in November 2023, but BVNL did not win any seats. He again led his party in the June 2024 European Parliament election, but the BVNL's vote share of 0.4% was insufficient for a seat.
Personal life Van Haga is married and has four children.
Electoral history + YearBodyPartyVotesResult.Party seatsIndividual 2010 Haarlem Municipal Council VVD 113 5 2014 Haarlem Municipal Council VVD 5 2017 House of Representatives VVD 41 2,156 33 2018 Haarlem Municipal Council VVD 15 127 5 2021 House of Representatives FVD 2 241,193 8 2022 Haarlem Municipal Council BVNL 16 400 1 2022 Amsterdam Municipal Council BVNL 12 463 0 2022 Voorne aan Zee Municipal Council BVNL 11 171 2 2023 House of Representatives BVNL 1 37,472 0 2024 European Parliament BVNL 1 19,502 0 2025 House of Representatives BVNL 1 12,967 0
Notes
References
External links
Ir. W.R. (Wybren) van Haga, Parlement.com