Frederik Jan Harm "Freek" Jansen (born 6 December 1992) is a Dutch politician who served as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

(2021–2024) for the far-right

Forum for Democracy Forum for Democracy ( ; FvD) is a far-right political party in the Netherlands, originally founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2015 before registering itself as a party the following year. The FvD first participated i ...

(FvD) party. He previously chaired the FvD youth wing, the Jongerenorganisatie Forum voor Democratie (2017–2021). Jansen studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and joined Forum for Democracy in 2016, when it became a political party from a think tank. He established its youth wing the following year and became its chair on 1 April 2017. Jansen also assisted the party's House caucus. Reports about extremist messages by members of the youth wing in 2020 led to criticism of Jansen and caused a split within FvD. Jansen became a member of the

after he was elected in the 2021 general election. He was reelected in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, before he stepped down in January 2024, ceding his seat to

Pepijn van Houwelingen Pepijn van Houwelingen (born 24 February 1980) is a Dutch politician of conservative populist party Forum for Democracy (FvD). He was elected to the House of Representatives in March 2021, and he served as a member of parliament until he lost h ...

Early life and non-political career

Jansen was born in 1992 in the

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

town of

Oldebroek Oldebroek () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the province of Gelderland. The municipality had a population of in . Population centres Topography ''Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Oldebroek, June ...

and grew up there. He studied political science at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

starting in 2011. Jansen is an IT professional, and his first job was as an assistant to the

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

of the municipality of Westland.

Politics

Jansen assisted

when it transitioned into a political party in 2016. At that point, the organization had already been in existence as a think tank for a number of years. Jansen had first met party leader

Thierry Baudet Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (; born 28 January 1983) is a Dutch politician, author, and self-declared Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of the far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD), for which he has been a memb ...

in September 2012 after Baudet's HJ Schoo-lezing, an annual lecture. Jansen founded the FvD's youth wing in 2017 and started serving as its chair. That same year, he also joined Forum for Democracy's caucus in the

. When Forum for Democracy received a plurality of the votes in the 2019 provincial elections, Jansen co-wrote Baudet's victory speech. He also ran for

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

in the 2019 election, ranking sixth on the

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

, but he was not elected due to FvD winning three seats. It was revealed the following year that Jansen had helped arrange a controversial 2017 meeting between Baudet, Jansen, white supremacist

Jared Taylor Samuel Jared Taylor (born September 15, 1951) is an American white supremacist and editor of ''American Renaissance'', an online magazine espousing such opinions, which was founded by Taylor in 1990. He is also the president of ''American Re ...

, and the Dutch

alt-right The alt-right (abbreviated from alternative right) is a Far-right politics, far-right, White nationalism, white nationalist movement. A largely Internet activism, online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late ...

association Erkenbrand. Besides, news magazine ''

HP/De Tijd ''HP/De Tijd'' is a Dutch language monthly opinion magazine. Its editorial offices are in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Alongside '' De Groene Amsterdammer'', '' Vrij Nederland'' and ''Elsevier'', it is one of the most influential Dutch opinion magazin ...

'' reported that his former superior at the Westland local council had written in a statement of defense for a labor dispute that Jansen had downplayed

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and had lauded the economic policies of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. Forum for Democracy called the statements "ridiculous and defamatory".

Extremist messages and 2021 general election

In April 2020, ''

'' published an article about members of Forum for Democracy's youth wing being worried about

right-wing extremist Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

ideas that were expressed in

WhatsApp WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make vo ...

group chats. In response, three members were expelled due to unacceptable statements and another three were suspended. The youth wing also expelled at least five whistleblowers. Forum for Democracy announced in October 2020 that Jansen would be the party's seventh candidate in the 2021 general election. Newspaper ''

Het Parool ''Het Parool'' () is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means ''The Password'' or ''The Motto' ...

'' wrote the following month that

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, and

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

thoughts were still being held and expressed by members of the FvD's youth wing. Its board started an internal investigation and suspended itself in the meantime. Jansen reacted by saying that there was no place in the organization for "racist and antisemitic ideas". Forum for Democracy politician Annabel Nanninga called the youth wing's response "too little too late" and called for the division to be reorganized, while Baudet continued to express his support for Jansen. Shortly after, Forum for Democracy announced that Jansen had given up his spot on the party list for the 2021 election. After a number of prominent FvD members had left the party because of the controversy and Baudet had retained control over the party, a new party list for the 2021 general election was presented in late December. Jansen returned as the party's seventh candidate, and he was elected in March with 4,331

preference votes Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

. Thierry Baudet and Theo Hiddema stated that they were among the people who had voted for Jansen.

House of Representatives

Jansen was sworn into the

on 31 March 2021. In the House, his specialities are education, youth, climate, innovation, digital affairs, and defense, and he is on the Committees for Defense, for Digital Affairs, for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, for Infrastructure and Water Management, for Kingdom Relations, for Public Expenditure, and for Social Affairs and Employment. Jansen stayed on as chair of the Forum for Democracy youth wing until September 2021, and he joined FvD's board as treasurer in November. He has advocated expanding the military, saying that spending on it should far exceed the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

norm of 2% of GDP. Jansen was reprimanded in October 2022 by the House of Representatives for refusing to disclose his position as board member of publisher Amsterdam Media Group, while Baudet was suspended. The House's integrity body advised the following year to suspend Jansen along with Baudet and Van Meijeren for one week for omitting roles at a meal-kit delivery service on their disclosure forms. In early 2022, Jansen declined a seat in the States of Overijssel, which was offered to him as there was a vacancy and he had been FvD's in the 2019 provincial elections. Jansen accepting the seat would have compelled him to relocate to the province. Jansen received a second term in the House after he was re-elected in 2023 as Forum for Democracy's second candidate. He temporarily stepped down on 16 January 2024 to make room for

to serve on the body. NOS reported that such a temporary switch unrelated to health reasons had not occurred in the House since 1977. Although the replacement was intended to last six months, Van Houwelingen stayed on as a member of parliament. Jansen was Forum for Democracy's second candidate in the June 2024 European Parliament election, but the party did not secure any seats.

Political views

In speeches, Jansen has complained about a moral weakening of

Western civilization Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompasses the social no ...

. He has said that people have become slaves of a financial system based on debt, that society suffers from

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

and

social isolation Social isolation is a state of complete or near-complete lack of contact between an individual and society. It differs from loneliness, which reflects temporary and involuntary lack of contact with other humans in the world. Social isolation c ...

, and that mass immigration is causing the replacement of the population by people who do not share Western culture. Jansen has called immigration an "insane demographic experiment", of which young people will experience the consequences. During a debate in the House of Representatives, he decried the (by his own count) four million immigrants who had entered the Netherlands after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Jansen said that without them the Netherlands would not be suffering from crime, street disturbances, a housing shortage, and overcrowded classrooms and hospitals (the latter during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

). Furthermore, he said that "there would be conviviality and trust", that "you would not have to look over your shoulder while using an ATM", and that "girls could walk alone on the streets carefree". Earlier, he had also stated that children are being raised as slaves, unable to say what they think and unable to fight for what they care about because of

political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...

. Jansen has said that civilization must be saved from its downfall and that there is a choice between going under and fighting for a renaissance. He believes this latter option requires a community stronger in unity with an urge to dominate. ''

Trouw ''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). '' ...

'' reported that Jansen has used references to the

Personal life

While in parliament, Jansen moved from

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

to Amsterdam.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jansen, Freek 1992 births Living people Forum for Democracy (Netherlands) politicians Dutch MPs 2021–2023 Dutch MPs 2023– People from Oldebroek Politicians from The Hague University of Amsterdam alumni Forum for Democracy MPs