Peter Valstar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 31 March 2021 – 5 December 2023 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Peter Johannes Valstar[1] (1985-03-27)27 March 1985 (age 40) 's-Gravenzande, Netherlands |
| Political party | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy |
| Alma mater | Inholland University of Applied Sciences |
| Occupation |
|
| Website | petervalstar |
Peter Johannes "Peter"Valstar (born 27 March 1985) is a Dutch politician of the conservative liberalPeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He worked as a press officer for the VVD, as thepolitical assistant of MinisterJeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Prime MinisterMark Rutte, and as a spokesperson at theMinistry of Defence before being elected to theHouse of Representatives in March 2021. He lost his bid forre-election in November 2023.
Valstar was born in theSouth Holland town of's-Gravenzande and grew up in nearbyTer Heijde with his sister.[2][3] He followed secondary education athavo level at the Zandevelt and Gasthuislaan locations of the Interconfessionele Scholengemeenschap Westland in 's-Gravenzande. He subsequently started studying Management, Economics, and Law but quit after two months.[2][3] Valstar later studied communication studies at theInholland University of Applied Sciences inThe Hague between 2005 and 2009 and interned at early-evening talk showDe wereld draait door.[4][2][3]
Valstar started his career in 2009 as a communications advisor for the VVD, where he worked on itssocial media strategy, and he became a press officer of itsparliamentary group in theHouse of Representatives in 2011.[4][2] He stayed in that position until he took a job as political advisor of Defence MinisterJeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in 2016. Another year later, Valstar became a senior spokesperson at theMinistry of Defence, serving under her successorAnk Bijleveld and Defence State SecretaryBarbara Visser.[5] While still in that position, he twice served as temporary political advisor of Prime MinisterMark Rutte at theMinistry of General Affairs because of maternity leaves, the first time from August 2018 to January 2019 and the second time from March to August 2020.[4][2][6][7]
He participated in the2018 municipal elections as the VVD's fourth candidate inWestland, but his party came one seat short for Valstar to be elected to themunicipal council.[8] He was offered a seat in the council a month later after someone had stepped down to become analderman, but Valstar declined it.[9] He did assist the VVD's group in the council next to his job in the period 2019–21.[10] From that position, he proposed to name more streets in the municipality after local soldiers andresistance fighters in World War II.[11]
Valstar ran for theHouse of Representatives in the2021 general election, being placed 21st on the VVD'sparty list.[2] He was elected and received 4,102preference votes.[12] He was sworn into office on 31 March 2021 and left his job at the defence ministry. Valstar is on the contact group Belgium and on the Committees for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; for Defence (vice chair); for Digital Affairs (chair); for Foreign Affairs; and for Justice and Security.[4] He became his party's spokesperson for fishery, nature,horticulture (a major industry in Westland), the countryside, animal welfare, war victims, and resistance fighters.[13] However, later in 2021, his portfolio changed to nature, horticulture, and immigration (excluding migrant workers) before changing to defense, nature, and horticulture in early 2022.[14] Valstar co-filedmotions to armMQ-9 Reaperunmanned aerial vehicles, to allow tastings ofcultured meat, and to call on the government to aid the greenhouse horticulture sector in cooperation with banks in a time of high natural gas prices. All three were carried by the House.[15][16][17] In September 2022 – during theRussian invasion of Ukraine – he joinedChris Stoffer (SGP) in the drafting of a bill to make sure defense spending would be at least 2% of DutchGDP in accordance to aNATO norm.[18]
Valstar has a wife named Larissa and two children, and he is a resident of his birthplace of's-Gravenzande.[4][3] He has also lived inMonster,Ter Heijde,Wateringen, andNaaldwijk, all located in the region ofWestland.[2] Valstar's hobbies includegenealogy, and he has digitized his family tree together with a family member.[19]
 |
| Year | Body | Party | Pos. | Votes | Result | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party seats | Individual | |||||||
| 2021 | House of Representatives | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 21 | 4,102 | 34 | Won | [20] | |
| 2023 | House of Representatives | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | 26 | 3,611 | 24 | Lost | [21] | |
