Gijs Pepijn Tuinman (; born 15 November 1979)Gijs Tuinman, held tegen wil en dank
de Volkskrant, 20 October 2014. is a Dutch military officer and politician of the

Farmer–Citizen Movement The Farmer–Citizen Movement ( ; BBB) is an agrarian and right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. It is headquartered in Deventer, Overijssel. The current party leader is founder Caroline van der Plas, who has led it since its ...

(BBB), who has served as State Secretary for Defence in the

Schoof cabinet The Schoof cabinet is the current demissionary cabinet of the Netherlands, sworn in on 2 July 2024. Led by independent politician and civil servant Dick Schoof as prime minister of the Netherlands, the cabinet was formed after the 2023 Dutch gen ...

since July 2024. He was 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 ...

in the preceding seven months. Tuinman is one of the only three living knights (4th class) of the

Military Order of William The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William (Dutch language, Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest Dutch honours system, honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone ...

, the oldest and highest

order of chivalry An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is a society, fellowship and college of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and ...

of the

Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

Biography

Gijs Tuinman was born in 1979 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 ...

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 ...

, where he attended the Bernardinuscollege from 1992 to 1998. In 1998, he went to the Royal Military Academy in

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

. In 2001, he became a platoon commander in the to be. By 2009, he had been on at least five deployments to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, several to Africa and other missions.Bescheiden maar doeltreffend
Defensiekrant, 24 October 2014. On 7 October 2009, for a mission in 2006, he was awarded the

Bronze Lion The Bronze Lion () is a high Royal Dutch award, intended for servicemen who have shown extreme bravery and leadership in battle favouring The Netherlands; in some special cases it can be awarded to Dutch or foreign civilians. It was first created ...

, the second highest military decoration awarded by

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal gr ...

. From 2009 to 2012, he worked as a special operations policy advisor at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

in The Hague. After this, he became a 'civilian' consultant at

Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

. He returned to military duty in 2013.

Military Order of William

On 4 December 2014 at the

Binnenhof The Binnenhof (; ) is a complex of buildings in the city centre of The Hague, Netherlands, next to the Hofvijver (Court Pond). It houses the meeting place of both houses of the States General of the Netherlands, as well as the Ministry of Gener ...

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 ...

, Tuinman was knighted by

King Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

, receiving the fourth class knighthood of the

. The King referred to Tuinman and

Epke Zonderland Epke Jan Zonderland (born 16 April 1986) is a Dutch artistic gymnast and the 2012 Olympic gold medallist on high bar. He is a 4-time Olympian (2008–20) and has also taken 3 World Championships golds on high bar at the 2013, 2014 and 2018 Wo ...

in his Christmas speech in 2014.

Politics

He was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2023 as the third candidate of the

, and he became the BBB's spokesperson for foreign affairs, trade, defense, and kingdom relations. Tuinman told in February 2024 – during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

– on

BNR Nieuwsradio BNR Newsradio ( Dutch: ''BNR Nieuwsradio'' and pronounced like "BNR News-radio") is an all-news radio station in the Netherlands. The station provides domestic, regional and international news with live news bulletins News is informatio ...

that he believed the Netherlands should more actively support

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 ...

's defense of

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...

against Russia. He suggested Dutch soldiers should be permanently stationed in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. After the PVV,

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right that tries to promote private enterprise and ...

NSC NSC may refer to: Banking and investment * National Sort Code, an Irish bank code * Nomura Securities Co, an investment bank Computing * National Software Centre, an Irish organization * National Supercomputer Centre in Sweden * NetShow Channe ...

, and BBB formed the

, Tuinman was sworn in as State State Secretary for Defence on 2 July 2024. His portfolio includes personnel, materiel, real estate, defence industry, IT and innovation, physical and social security, and resilience. In September 2024, Tuinman and Minister Ruben Brekelmans announced €2.4 billion in increased yearly funding for the

Netherlands Armed Forces The Netherlands Armed Forces () are the military, military forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (mainland Netherlands in Europe and islands of the Dutch Caribbean). The armed forces consist of four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Nav ...

. Coalition parties agreed to increase defense spending to adhere to the NATO norm of 2% of

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

in response the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additional funding would go towards attracting more personnel and the purchase of munitions, 50 Leopard 2A8 battle tanks, six F-35 fighter jets, two Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigates, and several NH90 military helicopters. The Netherlands had been left without tanks since 2011 because of budget cuts. Tuinman later told that he aimed to increase the defense ministry's personnel from 74,000 to at least 100,000.

Electoral history

Decorations

* Knight 4th class of the

(RMWO) *

* Commemorative Medal Peacekeeping Operations * Four Day Marches Cross *

NATO Medal The NATO Medal is an international military decoration which is awarded to various militaries of the world under the authority of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is manufactured by Eekelers-Centini Intl, of Hemiksem, Belgium. Ba ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuinman, Gijs 1979 births Living people 20th-century Dutch military personnel 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch military personnel Farmer–Citizen Movement politicians Graduates of the Koninklijke Militaire Academie Knights Fourth Class of the Military Order of William Leiden University alumni State secretaries for defence of the Netherlands Recipients of the Bronze Lion Royal Netherlands Army officers Politicians from Heerlen People from Oud-Beijerland People from Valkenburg aan de Geul Dutch MPs 2023– Farmer–Citizen Movement MPs