- Gerdi Verbeet
Infobox_Politician
name = Gerardina Alida Verbeet
birth_date = Birth date and age|1951|4|18|df=y
birth_place =Amsterdam ,Netherlands
residence =
party = Labour Party (PvdA)
religion =
office = Speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives
salary =
term_start = 2006
term_end = present
predecessor =Frans Weisglas
successor =Incumbent
occupation =
children =
website = http://www.gerdiverbeet.nl/Gerardina Alida (Gerdi) Verbeet (
Amsterdam ,18 april 1951 ) is a Dutch politician. Since 2006 she is chair of theTweede Kamer . Since 2001 she has been member of the Tweede Kamer for the Labour Party.Verbeet attended the gymnasium in Amsterdam and began a study in
social geography , which she did not finish. Instead she studied Dutch language and literature and worked as a teacher. Between 1994 and 2001 she was political advisor of state secretaryTineke Netelenbos and the PvdA-leaderAd Melkert .In May 2001 she became member of parliament filling the vacancy
Rob van Gijzel left. In the disastrous 2002 elections she was not re-elected. But in July 2002 she re-entered parliament, filling the vacancy ofEveline Herfkens . In the 2003 elections and 2006 elections she was able to retain her seat. In parliament Verbeet concentrated on sport, elderly policy and state pensions.On
6 December 2006 she was elected chair of the Tweede Kamer, in an anonymous vote she beat ministersMaria van der Hoeven of theChristian Democratic Appeal andHenk Kamp of thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy . She is the second female chair (afterJeltje van Nieuwenhoven ) and the second chair elected in open elections (afterFrans Weisglas ).In February 2007, her actions as chair led to minor scandal. She interrupted
Sietse Fritsma , member of the Tweede Kamer for theParty for Freedom when he presented a motion. The motion proposed to change the law so that ministers and state secretaries can only have one nationality and that pending this change candidate state secretariesAhmed Aboutaleb andNebahat Albayrak would not be appointed. During a brief suspension of the meeting of the Tweede Kamer, she explained to Fritsma that the second was impossible because with out a law to base it on, the Tweede Kamer could not interfere in this matter. Fritsma changed his motion accordingly. Later Party for Freedom-leaderGeert Wilders dismissed her actions as party-political.
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