Fourteen years ago, in 2009, Gom van Strien, living in Limburg, sent a letter of application to PVV boss Wilders. He had seen an advertisement in the newspaper and on the website asking whether he would come to the Senate for PVV. “Of course I support the ideas of the PVV,” Van Strien recalls in an interview with Limburg broadcaster L1.
He was the director of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University. There he also headed the department for marketing employees’ inventions. He wanted to use his experience and expertise at PVV. Two years later, in 2011, the physicist entered politics in The Hague.
“He is an educated man without much of a political profile,” PVV leader Wilders now says of his party colleague, who had a week to find out from all parties in the House of Representatives which cabinet they would prefer.
friendly to everyone
He is also a bona fide PVV member, as Omroep Venlo’s interview this week with the 72-year-old senator about his party’s big election victory shows. He believes that if PVV comes to government, things will change. “You’ll really notice it. The Netherlands ranks first.”
It seems that Van Strien also took a softer path than the party leader. “We are very friendly with everyone,” he says. “If you don’t wave the Hamas flag, you don’t have to be afraid.”
Born in Geertruidenberg in 1951, Van Strien studied physics in Nijmegen and business administration in Enschede. Following his studies, he first worked at the Central Statistical Office and the Rijkswaterstaat, switching to science and after leaving was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau. Before serving as a PVV senator, he was director of TrekhaakCentrum.nl in Oosterhout for two years.
Crystal clear perspectives
He began his political career at the VVD, where he was head of the Alphen aan den Rijn department from 1984 to 1988. After the departure of right-wing leader Frits Bolkestein and the arrival of the more left-wing Hans Dijkstal, he turned his back on the VVD in 1999, only to switch to the PVV years later.
What attracted him were the “very clear positions.” “Don’t use words to make things clear. I say it loud and clear: This is what we do and this is what we do,” L1 explains of his choice.
He said in 2015 that he considered the Senate a fake parliament, according to 1Limburg. Recently, PVV boss Wilders also described the House of Representatives as a fake parliament. He denied making that statement to scout reporters this afternoon, but he certainly couldn’t imagine it.
Van Strien has a daughter and two sons, is married and lives in Arcen. His hobbies are maritime history and genealogy, according to the Senate website. He also wrote a 526-page book describing his family history.
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
