Lucas Hartong (born 24 May 1963) is a Dutch politician. He served as a

member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been 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 Steel Commu ...

for the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

between 22 June 2010 and 1 July 2014. He was leader of the PVV delegation from 24 March to 1 July 2014.

Early life

Hartong was born on 24 May 1963 in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

. He went to the gymnasium in Breda and he later studied theology at

Christelijke Hogeschool Ede The Christelijke Hogeschool Ede (in English ''Christian University of Applied Sciences'' is added to the Dutch name; abbreviation remains CHE) is a Dutch vocational university, based in Ede in the central Netherlands. The CHE has a clear Chris ...

Political career

Hartong unsuccessfully tried to win a seat in the municipal council with his own Democratisch Platform Nederland party. He later became a member of the board of the

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a list of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The p ...

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

. He went on to serve as a parliamentary assistant to the Party for Freedom group in the European Parliament. On 22 June 2010 he replaced Louis Bontes, who was chosen as a Member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands in the 2010 general election. Hartong was supposed to have joined the European Parliament earlier, as the Netherlands, and with it the Party for Freedom, received an extra seat when the European Parliament increased the number of seats. The judicial procedures were howevever not finished before Hartong was installed to replace Bontes. At the start of his term Hartong said he wished to represent the Christian voters in the European Parliament. He claimed that another concern of him would be fishery, he found it surprising that the Dutch had no seat in the

Committee on Fisheries The Committee on Fisheries (PECH) is a committee of the European Parliament. Chris Davies was the chairman (2019 – 2020) - until the United Kingdom left the European Union. Committee mandate PECH is the European Parliament committee respons ...

. In 2013 Hartong was critical of the European Parliament paid trips of journalist to the Parliament, with costs of around 700,000 euro in 2011. He saw a relation between pro-EU stories in the media and the paid trips. His term ended on 1 July 2014. He served amongst others as member of the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis Jean Arthuis (born 7 October 1944 in Saint-Martin-du-Bois, Maine-et-Loire) is ...

and the Delegation for relations with the United States. He declined to be on the Party for Freedom candidate list for the European Parliament elections of 2014, citing he did not want to cooperate with "wrong figures" from parties such as the

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Au ...

and the French National Front.

References

External links

Page at European Parliament websiteBiography at parlement.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartong, Lucas 1963 births Living people People from Dordrecht Pim Fortuyn List politicians MEPs for the Netherlands 2009–2014 Party for Freedom MEPs