Gert Jan Maarten "Gert-Jan" Segers (born 9 July 1969) is a Dutch politician who was

Leader of the Christian Union The Party leader, Leader of the Christian Union is the most senior politician within the Christian Union (Netherlands), Christian Union (, CU) in the Netherlands. The post is currently held by Mirjam Bikker, who succeeded Gert-Jan Segers in 2023. ...

between 2015 and 2023. He has been 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 ...

between 2012 and 2023 and was

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislature, legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. ...

between 2015 and 2023.

Early career

A native of

Lisse Lisse () is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland in the Western Netherlands. The municipality, which lies within the Duin- en Bollenstreek, covers an area of of ...

, Segers 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 ...

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

and obtained a master's degree in

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

–

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic relations and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. From 2000 to 2007 he was a

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and a ...

ary in Egypt. From 2008 to 2012, he was the chairman of the Christian Union think tank Mr. G. Groen van Prinsterer Stichting. He is also a columnist for the Dutch newspaper ''

Nederlands Dagblad ''Nederlands Dagblad'' (; "Dutch Daily") is a Dutch daily newspaper, available nationwide, with a daily circulation of 23,800 issues (in 2020). History The paper was founded in 1944 as a semi- resistance paper during World War II called ''Refor ...

''; he wrote two books criticising

political Islam Political Islam is the interpretation of Islam as a source of political identity and action. It advocates the formation of state and society according to (the advocates understanding of) Islamic principles, where Islam serves as a source of poli ...

, as well as two novels.

Politics

Segers entered the

following the 2012 general election. In 2015, he succeeded Arie Slob as party leader and parliamentary leader. In the 2017 general election, the Christian Union remained stable with five seats. Prime Minister

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

first turned toward

GroenLinks (, ; GL) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Neth ...

to form his third cabinet, but policy disagreement between the parties prevented participation. Rutte then turned toward the Christian Union, who accepted the offer to govern: two Christian Union members were appointed (

Carola Schouten Cornelia Johanna "Carola" Schouten (; born 6 October 1977) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Union (CU). She was Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and Third Deputy Prime Minister in the third Rutte cabinet from 2017 to 20 ...

and Arie Slob). On 13 January 2023, Segers announced his resignation as leader of the Christian Union. He was succeeded by

Mirjam Bikker Mirjam Hannah Bikker (born 8 September 1982) is a Dutch politician who has served as the leader of the Christian Union since January 2023. She is also a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. She was previously elected to the municip ...

on 17 January.

Personal

Gert-Jan Segers is married and has three children. Theo Segers, the former mayor of

Staphorst Staphorst () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. History The villages of Staphorst and its southern neighbour Rouveen came into existence as in the 13th century monks started to bring the bogs and swamps into culture. All ...

and current mayor of

Molenlanden Molenlanden () is a municipality in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The municipality was created on 1 January 2019 by merging the municipalities of Giessenlanden en Molenwaard. It is located east of Rotterdam along the Lek. Th ...

, is his cousin.

References

External links

*
Parlement.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Segers, Gert-Jan 1969 births Living people 21st-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch novelists Christian Union (Netherlands) politicians Dutch Calvinist and Reformed Christians Dutch columnists Dutch journalists Dutch male novelists Dutch political scientists Dutch Protestant missionaries Dutch Reformed Church missionaries Johns Hopkins University alumni Leaders of the Christian Union (Netherlands) Leiden University alumni People from Lisse Protestant missionaries in Egypt Reformatory Political Federation politicians 20th-century Dutch people Dutch MPs 2012–2017 Dutch MPs 2017–2021 Dutch MPs 2021–2023