Christophe van der Maat (born 29 October 1980) is a Dutch politician of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

(VVD). From 10 Januari 2022 onwards he is serving as State Secretary for Defence.

Early life and education

Van der Maat was born on 29 October 1980 in

Boxmeer Boxmeer () is a town and former municipality in upper southeastern Netherlands. Boxmeer as a municipality incorporated the former municipality of Beugen en Rijkevoort and that of Vierlingsbeek. In Overloon is the Overloon War Museum. Boxmeer, ...

. From 1993 till 2000 he went to the Elzendaalcollege for his

HAVO ''Hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs'' (havo, meaning "higher general continued education" in Dutch) is a stream in the secondary educational system of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Suriname. It has five grades and is generally attended at ...

and VWO. From 2000 to 2006 he studied at the

University of Tilburg Tilburg University is a public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands. Tilburg Universit ...

, Dutch law (2000-2002), Public administration (2002-2005) and Master’s in Constitutional Principles of International and European Law (2005-2006).

Political career

Provincial politics

In 2015 and 2019 van der Maat was a member of the provincial council of

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to th ...

. Being the

lead candidate In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, i ...

from the

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

in North Brabant during the

2019 Dutch provincial elections Provincial elections were held in the Netherlands on 20 March 2019. Eligible voters elected the members of the Provincial States in the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. The elections were held on the same day as the 2019 Dutch water boards el ...

. From 2015 till 2022 he was also a member of the North Brabant

provincial executive The provincial executive (, GS) is the executive branch of government of a province in the Netherlands. It is the equivalent of the municipal executive at the provincial level. The provincial executive consists of the King's Commissioner (chair) ...

, with responsibility for mobility, provincial organisation, knowledge institutions and cooperation (2015-2019) and for mobility, finance and provincial organisation and First Deputy King’s Commissioner (2019-2022).

State Secretary of Defence, 2022–present

On 10 January 2022 van der Maat was appointed State Secretary for Defence in the

fourth Rutte cabinet The Fourth Rutte cabinet is the current Government of the Netherlands. It was inaugurated on 10 January 2022. The cabinet is a continuation of the previous third Rutte cabinet and is formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for Free ...

Personal life

Van der Maat is married and has one child.

References

External links

1980 births Living people People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians State Secretaries for Defence of the Netherlands 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch politicians {{Netherlands-VVD-politician-stub