Paul Rosenmöller
Rosenmöller in 2023
Leader ofGroenLinks–Labour Party in theSenate
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 June 2023
Preceded by	Office established
Member of theSenate
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 June 2019
Leader ofGroenLinks in theHouse of Representatives
In office 4 May 1994 – 26 November 2002
Preceded by	Ina Brouwer
Succeeded by	Femke Halsema
Member of theHouse of Representatives
In office 6 September 1989 – 29 January 2003
Personal details
Born	(1956-05-11)11 May 1956 (age 69) Den Helder, Netherlands
Party	GroenLinks
Occupation	Politician, television presenter, trade unionist

Paul Rosenmöller (born 11 May 1956) is a Dutchpolitician and formertrade unionist andtelevision presenter. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the DutchHouse of Representatives forGroenLinks and was party leader from 1994.^[1] Rosenmöller has been a member of theSenate for GroenLinks since June 2019 and leader ofGroenLinks–Labour Party in the Senate since June 2023.^[1]

Rosenmöller was born into aCatholic family inDen Helder in 1956; his father was CEO ofVroom & Dreesmann. After finishingatheneum-b inHaarlem in 1974, Rosenmöller studiedsociology.^[1] During his studies, Rosenmöller became associated with radical socialist,Maoist groups.^[2] He stopped studying in 1978 to work in thePort of Rotterdam. He worked for the shipping company Müller Thomson. In 1985, he became a member of the board of the Transportation branch of theFederation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV) inRotterdam.^[1] He negotiated with theConfederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO–NCW) and acted as spokesperson during severalstrikes. Rosenmöller rose to national fame for his radical position in these negotiations and strikes. He was a member of theGroup of Marxist–Leninists/Red Dawn (GML/RM) from 1976 to 1982. The GML/RM wanted to establish acommunist state in the Netherlands and sympathized with several communist regimes, such as thePeople's Republic of China, thePeople's Socialist Republic of Albania and theKhmer Rouge ofCambodia. Rosenmöller was criticized about 20 years later because of his past in this organisation. The human right abuses by these regimes were often cited by critics.

In 1989, he became member of the newly founded partyGroenLinks. GroenLinks was formed by four other parties, but Rosenmöller joined as anindependent. In the1989 general election, he was the sixth on the list of GroenLinks and the first independent; he was narrowly elected to theHouse of Representatives. In 1993 he was candidate party leader together withLeoni Sipkes [nl], but they lost the internal elections toMohamed Rabbae andIna Brouwer. After the defeat of GroenLinks in the1994 general election, Rosenmöller became the party leader.^[1]

As party leader he provided opposition against thefirst andsecond cabinets ofPrime MinisterWim Kok. In 2002, however, the political climate had changed. Rosenmöller participated in the opposition against the rise ofPim Fortuyn. At a party congress, he described Fortuyn's political position as "not justright butextreme right".^[3] He lost the2002 general election after theassassination of Fortuyn. In the hardened political climate after the murder of Fortuyn, serious threats against Rosenmöller's life and family were made. Because of this, Rosenmöller left politics.^[1] His successor as leader of GroenLinks wasFemke Halsema.

As member of parliament, Rosenmöller showed interest in the situation of theNetherlands Antilles and social participation ofimmigrants.^[1] In addition to being leader of the parliamentary group, he was also spokesperson for foreign affairs, finance, traffic and water management and Antillean affairs. He was chairman of the standing committee for Netherlands Antillean andAruban Affairs.

In 2018, Rosenmöller was approached byJesse Klaver with the question of whether he would like to become party leader for GroenLinks in theSenate.^[4] He accepted the offer and after the2019 Senate election he became leader of the eight-person group. The party congress of 4 February 2023 again chose Rosenmöller as the party leader for the2023 Senate election. After these elections,GroenLinks and the Labour Party were merged. Since 13 June 2023, Rosenmöller has been leader of this group. During the annualGeneral Political Debate in October 2024, he introduced a motion calling the planneddeclaration of an asylum crisis by theSchoof cabinet through emergency legislation undesirable, and he urged for an alternative approach. The motion was carried by the Senate, where opposition parties held a majority. Minister of Asylum and MigrationMarjolein Faber responded that she remained intent on using emergency powers.^[5][6]

In 2003, after leaving politics, Rosenmöller became a television presenter for theInterkerkelijke Omroep Nederland (IKON), which was anecumenical broadcasting organisation.

Between 2003 and 2005 Rosenmöller chaired theCommission on Participation of Women from Ethnic Minorities [nl] (PaVEM), a government advisory committee on the position of migrant women, in whichQueen Máxima had a seat.^[1]

Paul Rosenmöller is married and has five children.^[1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPaul Rosenmöller.

• 1956 births
• Living people
• Dutch communists
• Dutch television presenters
• Dutch trade unionists
• Dutch people of German descent
• GroenLinks politicians
• Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
• Leaders of GroenLinks
• People from Den Helder
• 20th-century Dutch politicians
• 21st-century Dutch politicians

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