THE HAGUE - Mariëlle Paul (VVD) was elected unanimously to succeed Jan Paternotte (D66) as chair of the Second Chamber Committee on Kingdom Relations. That happened at a so-called constituent meeting of the commission on February 9. Wieke Paulusma (D66) was elected vice-chairman.
Paul was born in Geldrop on November 5, 1966 and lives in Amsterdam. She has been a member of the Second Chamber since March last year. She has extensive experience in the corporate world where she held various management positions, mainly in the field of corporate communications. Caribbean parliamentarians will soon be able to meet Paul personally when she leads the Dutch delegation that will participate in the Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation in Sint Maarten from 4 to 6 May.
Paternotte – recently party leader of D66; took over the gavel in 2018 from his party colleague Alexander Pechtold. The D66 member also garnered appreciation on the Caribbean side for his open attitude and his role in Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultations, in which he offered space to put forward differing points of view. He always opened and closed meetings of the Chamber Committee in Dutch, Papiamento and English. He also pronounced his parting words in Papiamento.