Diederik Samsom | |
|---|---|
 Samsom in July 2012 | |
| Leader of theLabour Party in theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 20 March 2012 – 12 December 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Job Cohen |
| Succeeded by | Attje Kuiken |
| Leader of the Labour Party | |
| In office 20 March 2012 – 10 December 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Job Cohen |
| Succeeded by | Lodewijk Asscher |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 30 January 2003 – 14 December 2016 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Diederik Maarten Samsom (1971-07-10)10 July 1971 (age 54) Groningen, Netherlands |
| Political party | Labour Party |
| Spouse | Tineke(Divorced) |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Delft University of Technology(ir.) |
Diederik Maarten Samsom (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈdidərɪkˈmaːrtə(n)ˈsɑmsɔm]ⓘ; born 10 July 1971) is a Dutch environmentalist and retired politician who was the leader of theLabour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA) from 2012 to 2016. He was the first leader in the 70-year history of the PvdA to have been voted out of his position by party members. He later served as head of cabinet forFirst Vice-President of the European CommissionFrans Timmermans and his successorWopke Hoekstra.
Elected to theHouse of Representatives between 30 January 2003 and 14 December 2016, he was elected PvdAparliamentary leader as well asparty leader on 16 March 2012.[1] He lost the Labour Party leadership election toLodewijk Asscher in December 2016. Before his election to the House of Representatives he wasCEO of agreen energy company and a campaigner forGreenpeace Netherlands.
Diederik Maarten Samsom was born on 10 July 1971 inGroningen in theNetherlands. He was raised inLeeuwarden.[2] His father worked as aninternist and his mother as aphysiotherapist.
Between 1983 and 1989, he attended the Stedelijk Gymnasium (MunicipalGymnasium) inLeeuwarden. There he became interested in physics, and later he went on to studyapplied physics atDelft University of Technology.[3] Samsom specialised innuclear physics and became a level three radiation protection expert. He graduated in May 1997, obtaining a Dutchengineer's degree (Dutch:ingenieur).[4] He was also on the board of thenational students' unionLSVb and edited a yearly edition of thePoenboek, a students' guide relating to monetary issues.
Samsom had been involved in environmental issues long before entering politics. Samsom joined environmental organisationGreenpeace Netherlands in September 1995 as a volunteer. He led several campaigns and projects until he resigned in December 2001, after the PvdA offered him a career in politics.[5] He also worked as the CEO of Echte Energie (Real Energy), a smallgreen energy trading company, from August 2002 until January 2003.[2]
Samsom became a member of thesocial democraticLabour party while a student inDelft. He left the party but rejoined in February 2001. He stood as a candidate in the2002 Dutch general election, but was not elected due to the PvdA receiving insufficient votes in the election. The party regained most of its seats in the2003 election and this time Samsom had a higher position (nine)[6] on the list of candidates. He was subsequently sworn in as a member of theHouse of Representatives on 30 January 2003.[7]
Together with fellow PvdA parliamentariansStaf Depla andJeroen Dijsselbloem he traveled around the country campaigning. They operated under the nameThe Red Engineers (Dutch:De rode ingenieurs), referring to both their scientific backgrounds and their red overalls.NRC newspaper editor Coen van Zwol called their campaignfresh, clear and sharp (Dutch: fris, helder en scherp).[8]
Before being admitted as the leader of the Labour party, Samsom was the party's spokesperson on environmental issues:sustainability,climate and energy,traffic congestion and railway issues and projects. He was nineteenth on the list of candidates in the2006 Dutch general elections receiving a relative high number of 6248 preferential votes.[9]
In April 2008, Samsom was a candidate to succeedJacques Tichelaar asparliament party leader, but eventually he lost the vote toMariëtte Hamer.
Jacques Tichelaar became the leader of the parliamentary party shortly after the2006 general election in February 2007[10] but fell ill in January 2008. He underwent aseptuple bypass surgery and this took him three months to recuperate. On 16 April, he announced he had decided to resign from office for health reasons.[11] Tichelaar planned to return as a parliamentarian on 1 July 2008.[12] As vice parliamentary leader Hamer had led the party in Tichelaar's absence. The next day she decided to run for office.[13] Three days later, Samsom officially announced that he would also compete in the race. Other names were mentioned, but only Samsom and Hamer decided to vie for the position.[14] All 33 PvdA parliamentarians gathered two days later to discuss the position and cast their votes, resulting in a victory for Hamer.[15]
According to pollsterMaurice de Hond, a majority of the 2006 Labour voters preferred Samsom as party leader. Out of a total of 1,500 Labour voters, 26% favoured Hamer while 42% liked Samsom better. In this poll, of the people who indicated that they would vote for the PvdA in the future, a small majority of 40 to 35 preferred Samsom.[16]
On 22 February 2012, followingJob Cohen's resignation as party leader, Samsom stood as candidate in the party's leadership ballot which was held among the party members. On 16 March 2012, he obtained a landslide victory with 54% of the vote, with the runner-upRonald Plasterk receiving 32% of the vote.[17] Samsom stated he would like to becomeprime minister should the PvdA become the largest party, or otherwise continue his role ofchairman of his party in theHouse of Representatives (Tweede Kamer).[18]
In the 2012 general election the PvdA, under Samsom's leadership, gained 8 seats and totaled at 38 seats in the Tweede Kamer. After a swift negotiations the PvdA, as second largest party, entered into a coalition with the largest party the VVD. Samsom remained chairman of the PvdA in the Tweede Kamer andLodewijk Asscher became vicepremier and minister for Social Affairs and Employment on behalf of the PvdA.
During the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union in early 2016, Diederik Samsom is credited with masterminding a key provision in the deal between the EU and Turkey.[19] The deal aimed to mitigate the mounting humanitarian crisis in the refugee camps on the Greek islands. Under the provision, for every Syrian refugee being returned to Turkey from the Greek islands, another Syrian would be resettled from Turkey to the EU.[20]
Polls suggest that the Labour party lost most of its electoral base while Samsom was in charge. On 9 December 2016 Samsom lost theleadership of the Labour Party in an election againstLodewijk Asscher. He obtained 45,5% of the vote.[21] Samsom resigned from the House of Representatives on 14 December, and was replaced byRien van der Velde.[22][23]Attje Kuiken took over the role of group leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives on 12 December.[24]
In November 2019, Samsom became head of cabinet forFrans Timmermans,First Vice-President of the European Commission andCommissioner for Climate Action.Wopke Hoekstra succeeded Timmermans in the latter role in late 2023, while Samsom stayed on. Samsom stepped down in February 2024 as head of cabinet and was succeeded byEsther de Lange.[25] He became chair of thesupervisory board of state-owned natural gas infrastructure and transportation companyGasunie in July 2024, saying that he wanted to help execute therenewable energy transition. He failed to inform theEuropean Commission of his new position as is required to preventconflicts of interest, but the body finally allowed the appointment of Samsom under certain conditions.[2][26]
NRC newspaper referred to Samsom asquizking after he won his fifth televised game show.[27] Particularly notable are his consecutive victories in the2005 and 2006 National IQ Tests.[8] According to the test, he has an IQ of 136.[28] He also won the popularNational News Quiz in 2005 and 2006[29] and in May 2008 he was crowned winner of theBig History Quiz.[27]
Samsom was raised in anon-religious family and considers himself anatheist. He is anon smoker and observes avegetarian diet.[5][dead link] Samsom divorced in 2016 and has two children. Samsom mentioned them in several political debates and interviews in a for the Netherlands unprecedented and criticized way, including drawing attention to his daughter's disability.[30] He also involved his private life and family in his 2012electoral campaign, most notably by featuring his two children in an official partyTV advertisement.[31][32]
Samsom lived on ahouseboat inBroek in Waterland with his ex-wife (then girlfriend) and daughter before moving toLeiden, where he still resides as of 2012.[3][33] In a 2012 interview with Marie Claire, Samsom admitted that before his marriage he had been unfaithful "perhaps once or twice".[34][failed verification][35]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader of the Labour Party 2012–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Leader of theLabour Party in theHouse of Representatives 2012–2016 | Succeeded by | |
| International | |
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| National | |
