Dion Jean Gilbert Graus (born 19 March 1967 in

Heerlen Heerlen (; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the f ...

) is a Dutch

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He has been an MP on behalf of the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( , PVV) is a right-wing populist, far-right political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is the founder, party leader, and sole registered member of the party. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-ma ...

(Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) since 30 November 2006. Graus is a former car salesman and sales representative in

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both ...

products, and worked for the local

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

television station TV Limburg.

Political career

He was first elected to the House in the 2006 general election, and he focused on matters of

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

and

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. Graus secured a sixth term in November 2023, when the PVV received a plurality in a general election, and his portfolio includes

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

and . Through the backing of the PVV, a proposal passed the House in March 2024 to weaken an earlier

amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They ...

prescribing that animals should be able to exhibit natural behavior. Graus was the only member of his

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

who voted in favor of an unsuccessful alternative proposal by the

Party for the Animals The Party for the Animals ( , PvdD) is a List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. The PvdD was founded in 2002 as a single-issue party for animal ...

(PvdD) that preserved the original amendment, which had been supported by the PVV in 2021, by defining natural behaviors. A

motion In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an o ...

by Graus and Ines Kostić (PvdD) was carried the same year urging the government to ban the trade and ownership of animals prohibited from breeding, such as

pug The Pug is a breed of dog with the physically distinctive features of a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. An ancient breed, with roots dating back to 400 B.C., they have a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, most ...

s and

Sphynx cat The Sphynx cat (pronounced , ) also known as the Canadian Sphynx, is a breed of cat known for its lack of fur. Hairlessness in cats is a naturally occurring genetic mutation, and the Sphynx was developed through selective breeding of these anim ...

s. He also proposed to

neuter Neuter is a Latin adjective meaning "neither", and can refer to: *Neuter gender, a grammatical gender, a linguistic class of nouns triggering specific types of inflections in associated words * Neuter pronoun *Neutering, the sterilization of an an ...

wolves, after the return of the species to the Netherlands had caused disturbances.

Controversy

In December 2006, stories in the Dutch media erupted accusing Graus of having a history of unpaid bills, fraud, lawsuits, disgruntled employers and abusive relations with women. The Dutch justice department later reported that three counts filed against Graus were dismissed, without going into details about the other accusations. In addition, the newspaper

de Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

on January 27, 2007 found several NRC allegations lacking substance e.g. the bills had been paid after all. The newspaper also reported that Graus had the full confidence of party leader

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives. Wilders is best known for his right-wing p ...

Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

January 27, 2007 ''Graus pareert de zwaarste aanvallen'
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Electoral history

References

*
Parlement.com biography

External links

*
House of Representatives biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graus, Dion 1967 births Living people Dutch animal rights activists Dutch television presenters Dutch television producers Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Dutch MPs 2023– Party for Freedom politicians Politicians from Heerlen Dutch MPs 2006–2010 Dutch MPs 2010–2012 Dutch MPs 2012–2017 Dutch MPs 2017–2021 Dutch MPs 2021–2023 Party for Freedom MPs