Habtamu de Hoop | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| Assumed office 31 March 2021 | |
| Member of theSouthwest-FrieslandMunicipal Council | |
| In office 2 January 2018 – 29 April 2021 | |
| Succeeded by | Pieter Jan Scholtanus |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1998 (age 26–27) |
| Political party | Labour Party |
| Residence(s) | Wommels,Friesland |
| Alma mater | |
Habtamu Emke de Hoop (born 1998) is an Ethiopian-born Dutch television presenter and politician. He served as a member of themunicipal council ofSúdwest-Fryslân from 2018 to 2021, also hosting the educational children's showHet Klokhuis from 2018 to 2019. De Hoop was elected to theHouse of Representatives in the2021 general election as a member of theLabour Party (PvdA).
He was born in 1998 in theEthiopian capitalAddis Ababa and was abandoned at a bar when he was a few months old. De Hoop was brought to an orphanage, where he received his first name.[1][2] He was probably born in March or April 1998, but his exact date of birth is unknown.[3] De Hoop celebrates his birthday on 16 April.[2] He was adopted by a Dutch couple when he was about eight months old, and he grew up in theFrisian villageWommels.[1] The couple later adopted another Ethiopian boy.[2]
During his childhood, De Hoop played football as astriker at a number of clubs includingSC Cambuur andONS Sneek, and he playedFrisian handball.[1][4] He attended the high school RSG Magister Alvinus inSneek athavo level, graduating in 2016.[1][5] He has told that he joined the school's debating society in fourth class to get out of having to hand in a school assignment.[6] In 2016, he participated in the national debating and speech contest Op weg naar het Lagerhuis, where he ended up among the three speech finalists. De Hoop argued during the final for caring more about refugees.[7]
He studied journalism at theWindesheim University of Applied Sciences inZwolle but did not finish his study because of his job in the municipal council and as a presenter ofHet Klokhuis.[2][8][9] In 2019 – after he had leftHet Klokhuis – he started studying public administration at theNHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences's Thorbecke Academie in Leeuwarden but again did not complete the program.[10][11]
De Hoop participated in the November 2017 municipal election in his municipality,Súdwest-Fryslân, being placed sixth on theparty list of the Labour Party.[12] He won a seat and was sworn in as councilor in January 2018 at age nineteen.[13] His specializations included spatial planning and housing.[14] De Hoop was also hired as a host of the educational children's showHet Klokhuis, which is broadcast on weekdays byOmroep NTR, in December 2017. Filming began in February of the following year and the first episode presented by De Hoop was televised in October.[9][15]
In addition, he wasMatthijs van Nieuwkerk's sidekick in an episode ofDe Wereld Draait Door and he was a jury member of the 2018 edition of Op weg naar het Lagerhuis.[2][16] De Hoop leftHet Klokhuis in the summer of 2019.[10] He was also involved in the youth think tank Coalitie-Y after a call by Prime MinisterMark Rutte in May 2020 for more input from younger people on government policy surrounding theCOVID-19 pandemic.[17] He was again part of the jury of Op weg naar het Lagerhuis in 2022, and he wrote the text for It grut Frysk diktee, aWest Frisiandictation broadcast byOmrop Fryslân, that same year. The theme of De Hoop's text was sport.[18][19]
He ran for member of parliament in the2021 general election as the Labour Party's ninth candidate.[20] He was elected to the House and received 10,092preference votes.[21] He became the youngest member of the new House, which was installed on 31 March, and the third youngestMP in Dutch parliamentary history up to that point.[22] De Hoop vacated his municipal council seat in April.[23] His focus in the House became education, media, infrastructure, and water management.[24] De Hoop'smaiden speech about his past andequality of opportunity received positive reactions.[25]
He submitted a bill in October 2021 to amend Article 23 ofthe constitution, which ensuresfreedom of education, such that schools cannot reject students, such thatequality of opportunity is promoted, and such that schools must adhere to the values of democracy and therule of law. De Hoop had taken over the proposal from party leaderLodewijk Asscher, which is supposed to bring an end to religious schools rejecting people based on their beliefs and to hostile environments forLGBT students.[26] TheCouncil of State advised against major parts of the amendment, stating that it was unclear how it would increase acceptance and that it could limit educational freedom.[27] Besides – together withLaura Bromet (GL) andAlexander Hammelburg (D66) – De Hoop continued an effort to amend article 1 of the constitution to add disability and sexual orientation as grounds on which discrimination is prohibited. Both houses of parliament had already voted in favor of the amendment, but a constitutional amendment required a second affirmative vote following elections. The Senate eventually passed it for a second time in January 2023.[28]
De Hoop also advocated the construction of theLelylijn, a proposed railway betweenLelystad andGroningen to better connect the northern provinces to the rest of the country, but amotion by De Hoop amid ongoingcoalition agreement negotiations did not receive a majority in the House.[29] In 2022, he pled for public transportation to become a basic right. When bus lines throughout the country were threatened with discontinuation due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, De Hoop argued that they have an important function in rural areas and that some people are dependent on them.[30] In early 2023, he presented a plan with GroenLinks to make public transport more affordable. They proposed an experiment to provide free public transport to lower-income individuals as well as a reversal of recent price hikes in tickets. The €400 million required for the latter would be funded through an increase in thewealth andcorporate taxes.[31]
He secured a second term in theNovember 2023 general election, and his specialties changed to public transport, traffic, and housing.[32] Commenting on close cooperation between the Labour Party andGroenLinks and plans of the parties to merge, De Hoop said he advocated for a new left-wing party instead of a "prolonged merger process". He argued that thepolitical left should change its focus fromredistribution of income and wealth to lowering thecost of living.[33] His plea was endorsed by party leadersFrans Timmermans (Labour Party) andJesse Klaver (GroenLinks) soon after.[34] In 2024, De Hoop andOlger van Dijk (NSC) proposed a bill that would allow provinces to establish their own public transport companies. They are required to tender to corporations, and some provinces were encountering difficulties in receiving sufficient bids. De Hoop said that financial incentives were hurting the quality and reach of public transport.[35] When housing ministerMona Keijzer announced plans to scrap a new regulation requiring future constructions to include breeding and hiding places for birds andbats, De Hoop filed a motion opposing the decision. It was adopted by the House.[36][37]
While a member of parliament, De Hoop moved from the Frisian village ofEasterein toThe Hague, and he returned toWommels later in his term, where he lives with his girlfriend.[5][38][39] He is a supporter of football clubSC Heerenveen and additionally plays the sport as a member of the Easterein club VV SDS.[4]
 |
| Year | Body | Party | Pos. | Votes | Result | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party seats | Individual | |||||||
| 2021 | House of Representatives | Labour Party | 9 | 10,092 | 9 | Won | [40] | |
| 2023 | House of Representatives | GroenLinks–PvdA | 12 | 20,077 | 25 | Won | [41] | |
| 2025 | House of Representatives | GroenLinks–PvdA | 8 | 28,605 | 20 | Won | [42] | |
House of Representatives 12 November 2025 – present | ||
| Democrats 66 26 seats |  | |
| Party for Freedom 26 seats | ||
| People's Party for Freedom and Dem. 22 seats | ||
| GroenLinks–Labour Party 20 seats | ||
| Christian Democratic Appeal 18 seats | ||
| JA21 9 seats | ||
| Forum for Democracy 7 seats | ||
| Farmer–Citizen Movement 4 seats | ||
| Denk 3 seats | ||
| Reformed Political Party 3 seats | ||
| Party for the Animals 3 seats | ||
| Christian Union 3 seats | ||
| Socialist Party 3 seats | ||
| 50Plus 2 seats | ||
| Volt 1 seat | ||
Bold indicates theparliamentary leader (first mentioned) and theSpeaker; (Brackets) indicate a temporarily absent member; Italics indicate a temporary member; ‹Guillemets› indicate a member who has left the House of Representatives See also:Members of the Senate of the Netherlands, 2023–2027 | ||