Grinwis was born in 1979 inOuddorp inSouth Holland as the son of anarable farmer. He grew up in that village with his two younger brothers and attended theMiddelharnis secondary school CSG Prins Maurits atvwo level.[3][4][5][6][7] Grinwis subsequently studied economics of agriculture and environment atWageningen University and Research, but he did not finish his program due to an illness and a scooter accident.[8] He was a member of theReformed Political Party (SGP) and of the Christian student organization C.S.F.R.[9][10] He has told that he ended up at the Christian Union due to senator and philosopherEgbert Schuurman, one of his professors in university.[11]
Starting in October 2002, he interned at the Christian Union's scientific institute and itsEuropean Parliament caucus.[12] He replaced a staff worker, who was on parental leave, the following year and got a permanent position as policy officer of the House caucus in 2004.[3][9] He served as thepolitical assistant to state secretary and ministerTineke Huizinga starting in 2007.[3][13] Besides, he was on Christian Union's 2006 election program committee, and he would later also help write the programs for the general elections in 2010, 2012, 2017, and 2021.[14][15][16][17][18] In 2010, he became a political and financial–economic advisor ofWim Kuijken, the commissioner of the Delta Programme, which aims to prevent flooding. Grinwis had been involved in the creation of the governmental cooperation as Huizinga's assistant and continued working there until 2015.[19][20]
Grinwis was thelijsttrekker of the shared list of the Christian Union and the SGP during the2014 municipal election in The Hague. Both parties had a history of cooperating in The Hague municipal politics with the exception of the previous election, when neither party won any seats in the council.[13] During the campaign, Grinwis advocated curbing prostitution in the city by introducing a ban onprocuring.[21] He was elected and was installed on 27 March.[22] While in the municipal council, Grinwis also worked as a financial advisor for the Christian Union caucus in theHouse of Representatives and theSenate.[23][24] Grinwis introduced over 65 motions and amendments that passed during his first term, more than any other councilor in The Hague in the same years.[25] In the2017 election, he ran for MP, appearing on the 14th place of the Christian Union'sparty list. His party won five seats, while Grinwis received 269preferential votes – not enough to be elected.[26] He served as a negotiator of the Christian Union concerned with financial policy during thegovernment formation.[27] In that position, he found a way to prevent health insurancedeductibles from having to increase despite European regulations by raising premiums.[28]
He was re-elected as municipal councilor in 2018, again being thelijsttrekker of the Christian Union and the SGP.[23] He favored leaving theRotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area partnership, calling it undemocratic.[29] The council banned the sale oflaughing gas on the streets in 2020, a year after Grinwis had first proposed it.[30]
In the2021 general election, Grinwis appeared on the Christian Union's party list as the fifth candidate.[31] He designed a new tax system for the campaign, calling the current one "hopelessly unjust, complex, and individualistic". He said that the current system was focused too much on stimulating people to do paid work.[32] To make the system less complicated, he proposed abolishing allowances (toeslagen),exemptions, and mostdeductions, and – to compensate for this – he proposed instituting a single tax deduction for households, lowering income tax, and raising theminimum wage, thestate pension, and the municipal welfare (bijstand) by 10%.[33] Furthermore, under the plan, corporate taxes would be increased.[32]
Grinwis was sworn into the House on 31 March after having been elected with 1,240preference votes.[34] He served as his party's spokesperson for agriculture, nature, food quality, finances, climate, energy, water management, housing, spatial planning, economic affairs, and infrastructure.[3][35] Grinwis vacated his seat in The Hague municipal council on 15 April.[1]
He was involved in the creation of a €514 million nationalinsulation program to make buildings more sustainable. In anticipation to the program, Grinwis presented together with theCDA andGroenLinks a twelve-point manifesto, which included makingsubsidies attractive to lower-income households and which had to be considered in the drafting of the actual program according to a passedmotion.[36][37] In the House, Grinwis also proposed for policy officers of theMinistry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality to be encouraged to intern at farms, nature organizations, and the NVWA, and he unsuccessfully called for a halt to the construction of newdata centers due to their footprint and energy usage, when one inZeewolde forFacebook was nearing approval.[38][39] He brought forward a compromise in May 2022 whenD66 and GroenLinks wanted to abolish unelected members ofwater councils through aninitiative bill. Grinwis'samendment was carried to remove the unelected member of daily management and to fix the unelected water council members to two representing farmers and two representing nature organizations, thereby getting rid of company representatives. The bill subsequently passed the House.[40] In October 2022, Grinwis proposed a new tax ononline shopping deliveries due to theirgreenhouse gas emissions and the nuisance caused by delivery vans. The money raised would be invested insmall and medium-sized enterprises.[41]
Furthermore, Grinwis submitted an initiative bill withHenk Nijboer (Labour Party) to prohibit temporary rental contracts for houses in most cases. They had been allowed since 2016 to increase the stock of rental homes and accounted for one third of new contracts, but Grinwis argued that they had been ineffective and had caused uncertainty among renters. He decried an amendment proposed by theVVD and the CDA to include an exception for landlords with one unit who want to sell their property. A majority of the House favored the bill without the amendment after the CDA had dropped its support, and it was adopted by theSenate in November 2023.[42][43][44] Grinwis wasre-elected in November 2023, and his specialties within the Christian Union'sparliamentary group remained the same.[35]
The National Political Index – an initiative to quantify the activities of members of parliament – concluded that Grinwis was the most active House member of both the 2022/23[45] and 2023/24 political years.[46][47][48] He had ranked second the year before.[49] As a result, the verb 'grinwissen' has been used in parliamentary language to refer to working hard, but speakers are flexible on what aspect of parliamentary work the term is applied.[50][51][52][53]
^abKlaassen, Niels (3 February 2018)."Zomers spring ik op de trekker" [In the summer, I hop on the tractor].AD (in Dutch). Retrieved25 October 2020.
^Visscher, Johannes (20 July 2019)."Hoe beslissing over prostitutie drukt op CU-wethouder" [How the decision about prostitution is weighing on Christian Union alderman].Reformatorisch Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved25 October 2020.
^abGuijt, Erwin (20 November 2020). "Goeree-Overflakkee is waar ik me thuis voel" [I feel at home on Goeree-Overflakkee].Eilanden Nieuws (in Dutch). Vol. 91, no. 8945. p. 18.
^Grinwis, Pieter (9 August 2021)."#6 | Pieter Grinwis (CU)".BNR (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Eduard Schaepman. Retrieved31 August 2021.
^"Personalia" [Personal details].Nieuwsbrief (in Dutch). Vol. 4, no. 1. Mr. G. Groen van Prinsterer Stichting. June 2003. p. 2. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 29 October 2020. Retrieved26 October 2020.
^abBeverdam, Gerard (25 January 2014). "Hereniging van CU en SGP in Haagse raad is gebedsverhoring" [Reunification of CU and SGP in The Hague council is fulfillment of prayers].Nederlands Dagblad (in Dutch).
^"Kiezen voor wat écht telt" [Choosing for what really matters](PDF).ChristenUnie (in Dutch). p. 2. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 7 May 2021. Retrieved25 April 2021.
^Ten Broeke, Marcel (12 October 2017)."Koopkracht eenverdiener wel, maar kloof niet hersteld" [Purchasing power of sole wage earners has been restored, but not the gap].Reformatorisch Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved25 October 2020.
^abGriniws, Pieter (9 November 2020). "Ons belastingstelsel is stuk" [Our tax system is broken].Nederlands Dagblad (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Eduard Sloot. p. 14.
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
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