Louis Bontes (; born 28 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and former

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

. He was a

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 ...

(2009–2010) and a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

House of Representatives of the Netherlands The House of Representatives ( , literally "Second Chamber of the States General", or simply ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General of the Netherlands, States General, the other one ...

(2010–2017) for 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 ...

(PVV) until 2013 and as an independent since. He was the cofounder and chairman of the political party

For the Netherlands VoorNederland (translated: For Netherlands or Pro-Netherlands) was a Dutch political party. It was previously active in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands as the Group Bontes/Van Klaveren (), a parliamentary group founded in April 201 ...

(VNL) from 2014 to 2015.

Early life and career

Louis Bontes was born on 28 February 1956 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

in the Netherlands. He worked many years in the Dutch police force, towards the end as district commander

harbor A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

for the Rotterdam-Rijnmond area.

Politics

Bontes represented the

(PVV) until 2013, and focused on matters of the

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, civil law,

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police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

and

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

(

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

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and

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). From 2009 to 2010, he was an MEP for the PVV. In October 2013, after Bontes talked to the media about his being disappointed with the methods of the PVV, the party's parliamentary group expelled him.
PVV zet Kamerlid Louis Bontes uit fractie
, ''

Algemeen Dagblad The ''Algemeen Dagblad'' (; ), also known by its initialism ''AD'' () is a Dutch daily newspaper based in Rotterdam. History and profile ''Algemeen Dagblad'' was founded in 1946. The paper is published in tabloid format and is headquartered i ...

'', 2013. Bontes remained in parliament as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, and stated he would keep voting along with the PVV. In May 2014, Bontes founded the political party

(VNL) with other former PVV members

Joram van Klaveren Joram Jaron van Klaveren (born 23 January 1979) is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Party for Freedom he was an MP from 17 June 2010 until 21 March 2014. He subsequently was an independent until his term in office ended on 23 March 2017. H ...

, and

Johan Driessen Johannes Henricus Antonius (Johan) Driessen (born 4 June 1981 in Cuijk en Sint Agatha) is a Dutch politician and former lawyer. He was an MP for the Party for Freedom (PVV) from 17 June 2010 to 19 September 2012. He focused on matters of develo ...

. Bontes stepped down as chairman of VNL, after

Bram Moszkowicz Abraham Maarten "Bram" Moszkowicz (; born 26 June 1960) is a Dutch jurist and former lawyer. Early life and education Abraham Maarten Moszkowicz was born on 26 June 1960 in Maastricht in the Netherlands. He is the son of Berthe Bessant and law ...

was selected to become ''

lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the candidate placed first on a party list. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government, and the party chair or party leader. Usage by country Net ...

'' in the next elections. Bontes has been banned from entry to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

since 2015. His term in the House ended on 23 March 2017.

References

*
Parlement.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bontes, Louis 1956 births Living people Dutch police officers Dutch MPs 2012–2017 MEPs for the Netherlands 2009–2014 Party for Freedom MEPs Party for Freedom politicians Independent politicians in the Netherlands Artists from Rotterdam Utrecht University alumni VoorNederland politicians The Hague University of Applied Sciences alumni Dutch MPs 2010–2012 Party for Freedom MPs