Sybrand van Haersma Buma (; born 30 July 1965) is a Dutch politician serving as

Mayor of Leeuwarden The following is a list of mayors of the municipality of Leeuwarden from 1821 until the present. A mayor in the Netherlands is called a ''burgemeester (burgomaster)''. This is a list of mayors of the Dutch city and capital of Friesland, Leeuward ...

since 2019. Until 2019, he was a member of the House of Representatives from 2002 who also served as the parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) from 2010 and as the leader of his party from 2012.

Biography

Early life

Sybrand van Haersma Buma descends from an old patrician family from

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

. He is the son of Bernard van Haersma Buma (1932-2020) who was Mayor of Workum (1962–1970) and of

Sneek Sneek (; fy, Snits) is a city southwest of Leeuwarden and the seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. As of 2011 it is the seat of the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân (Southwest Friesland). Th ...

(1970–1993). His grandfather was Mayor of

Stavoren Stavoren (; fry, Starum; previously Staveren) is a city in the province of Friesland, Netherlands, on the coast of the IJsselmeer, about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Hindeloopen, in the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân. Stavoren had a population ...

. Both his father and grandfather belonged to the Christian Historical Union (CHU), that merged in 1980 with the

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party ( nl, Katholieke Volkspartij, KVP) was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the Roman Catholic State Party, which was a continuation of ...

(KVP) and the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) to form the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). Van Haersma Buma studied law at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

(1983–1989) and followed a course at the

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

(1989–1990). After his study he was employed at the Council of State and the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

Politics

Van Haersma Buma was the secretary of the Christian Democratic Appeal in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

and a member of the executive committee of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the province of

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 ...

in the late 1990s. From January to June 2002 he was a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

Voorburg Voorburg is a town and former municipality in the west part of the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Together with Leidschendam and Stompwijk, it makes up the municipality Leidschendam-Voorburg. It has a population of about 39,000 people ...

and since May 2002 he is a member of the

Dutch House of Representatives The House of Representatives (, pronounced ; commonly referred to as the ', literally "Second Chamber of the States General") is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General of the Netherlands ...

. He became the party's spokesman on judicial affairs and is known for his ''law and order'' approach. From 2007 to 2010 he was the secretary of the Christian Democratic Appeal parliamentary group in the House of Representatives. EPP Dublin Congress, 2014 (12977225243)

Although the Christian Democratic Appeal lost the elections of June 2010, Van Haersma Buma was re-elected. He supported his party chief,

Maxime Verhagen Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen (; born 14 September 1956) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and historian. Verhagen studied Contemporary history at the Leiden University obtaining a Master of Arts degre ...

, during the negotiations between the Christian Democratic Appeal and the

conservative liberal Conservative liberalism or right-liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with Conservatism, conservative stances, or simply representing the right-wing of the liberal movement.Michael Gallagher (academic), M ...

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD) of Mark Rutte and the populist

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 ...

(PVV) of Geert Wilders which eventually resulted in a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

of the VVD and Christian Democratic Appeal with parliamentary support of the PVV. After parliamentary leader Verhagen became

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

in the new First Rutte cabinet Van Haersma Buma was elected as his successor. After the fall of the cabinet, Van Haersma Buma criticised the PVV, the party responsible for the break-up of the cabinet. Shortly afterwards he announced his candidacy for the party's leadership. On 18 May 2012 he was elected as '' lijsttrekker'' (top candidate) of the Christian Democratic Appeal by a majority of the Christian Democratic Appeal members. In the meantime he and the leaders of the

(VVD), the Christian Union (CU), the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

and GroenLinks, the so-called

Kunduz coalition {{Unreferenced, date=May 2012 The Kunduz coalition is a name used for the ad-hoc majority coalition of five parties in the Dutch House of Representatives which was sometimes used when the minority Rutte government could not rely on the support of ...

(a budgetary agreement) for 2013. After the

2017 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday 15 March 2017 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. The incumbent government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the first to serve a full term since 2002. The previo ...

, the CDA formed the Third Rutte cabinet alongside the VVD, D66 and CU. However Van Haersma Buma remained in the House of Representatives as parliamentary leader instead of entering the government. Buma was nominated as

by the city's municipal council on 16 May 2019. He was succeeded by

Pieter Heerma Pieter Enneüs Heerma (born 5 August 1977, Amsterdam) is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) he has been a member of the House of Representatives since 20 September 2012. Biography From 1999 tot 2001 Heerma ...

as parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives on 21 May. On 26 August 2019 Buma was appointed Mayor of Leeuwarden.

References

External links

;Official *
Mr. S. (Sybrand) van Haersma Buma
Parlement & Politiek *
Sybrand van Haersma Buma
Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Haersma Buma, Sybrand van 1965 births Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Dutch civil servants Dutch jurists Dutch members of the Dutch Reformed Church Leaders of the Christian Democratic Appeal Living people Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors in South Holland People from Nijefurd Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands University of Groningen alumni 21st-century Dutch politicians Mayors of Leeuwarden