Fleur Agema

Fleur Agema
Agema in 2025
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office2 July 2024 – 3 June 2025
Prime MinisterDick Schoof
Preceded byRob Jetten
Succeeded bySophie Hermans
Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport
In office2 July 2024 – 3 June 2025
Prime MinisterDick Schoof
Preceded byConny Helder
Succeeded byDaniëlle Jansen
Member of the House of Representatives
In office30 November 2006 – 2 July 2024
Succeeded byChris Faddegon
Member of the Provincial Council ofNorth Holland
In office20 March 2003 – 14 March 2007
Personal details
BornMarie-Fleur Agema (1976-09-16) 16 September 1976
Purmerend, Netherlands
PartyPVV (since 2006)
Other politicalaffiliationsLPF (2002–2004)Forza! (2004–2006)
Domestic partner(s)Léon de Jong(2014–present)
Children1
Alma materAKI ArtEZ University of the Arts(BA)Amsterdam University of the Arts(MA)Utrecht School of the Arts(MA)
Website(in Dutch)Party for Freedom website

Marie-Fleur Agema (Dutch:[maːriˈfløːrˈaːɣəmaː]; born 16 September 1976) is a Dutch politician affiliated with the Party for Freedom (PVV). From 2 July 2024 to 3 June 2025, she served as first Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport in the Schoof cabinet. Agema previously served as a member of the House of Representatives from 30 November 2006 to 2 July 2024. She was considered a deputy to party leader Geert Wilders.

Early life

Agema was born in Purmerend, North Holland, and grew up in Monnickendam and Wormerveer.[1] Her parents ran a business in the hospitality industry.[2] She obtained a BA degree from the AKI ArtEZ University of the Arts in 1999, an MA degree in Architecture from the Academy of Architecture of the Amsterdam University of the Arts in 2001, and an MA degree in Fine Art from the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2004.[3] During her studies, she worked as a catering manager and also taught sailing lessons. From 1999 to 2003, she worked as a spatial designer and project leader for an architectural firm.[4]

Career

Provincial Council and House of Representatives

In March 2003, she was elected to the Provincial Council of North Holland, as a member of the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF). On 17 October 2003, she said had lost confidence in the governing board of the Pim Fortuyn List with two other State members of the LPF. In 2004, she left the party, because of dissatisfaction with the continuing internal dispute. She continued as a member of the provincial council as an independent. In 2004, she was a founding member of the Forza! Nederland party alongside former Pim Fortuyn List provincial council representative Paul Meijer, however she left shortly after its founding to join the Party for Freedom. In this same year, she was also noted as being active on the neo-Nazi internet forum Stormfront which uses the slogan "White Pride World Wide".[5]

In 2006, she was asked by Geert Wilders, the party leader of the newly formed Party for Freedom, to join him on and get the second place on the list of candidates. In November 2006 she was chosen as a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. She left the provincial council on 14 March 2007. As an MP her main specialties are education, healthcare, spatial planning and infrastructure.[6] She advocated to raise the minimum age for sex workers from 18 to 21, leading to the change being enacted.[2] Agema received a sixth term in the 2023 general election, and her portfolio changed to disability care and elderly care.[7] During her parliamentary career Agema was considered a prominent member of the party and a deputy to Geert Wilders who referred to her as his "star player."[8]

Agema retired from politics ahead of the 2025 Dutch general election and did not seek another term in the House.[9]

Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport

After the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB formed the Schoof cabinet, Agema was sworn in as First Deputy Prime Minister and as Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport on 2 July 2024.[2][10] Departing from previous practice, Prime Minister Dick Schoof did not let Agema chair the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers during his foreign trips, opting instead to move the date of the meeting. Agema chaired the meeting for the first time in February 2025, when Schoof was ill.[11]

Responding to personnel shortages in the healthcare sector, Agema said that they could largely be resolved through new artificial intelligence technologies, and she indicated that she would introduce legislation to allow their usage.[12] The governing agreement of the Schoof cabinet clarified it aims to halve time spent on administrative tasks by healthcare workers. It also included a reduction of the minimum health insurancedeductible from €385 to €165 starting in 2027.[13] Agema was tasked with extending the Integral Care Agreement, established in 2022 to maintain affordable and accessible healthcare for an ageing population. A revised agreement was planned for January 2024.[14] However, municipalities pulled out of the agreement in November 2024, citing insufficient funding.[15] When an alliance of coalition and opposition parties agreed two weeks later to cut the healthcare budget by an additional €315 million, five more professional and trade associations pulled out. Agema expressed concern over the cuts, particularly those affecting additional and refresher training for medical specialist care.[14] The negotiating parties stated that it had not been their intention to affect training for nurses, and they called on Agema to find an alternative cut in the healthcare budget.[16]

Agema advised against a motion to ban private equity firms from investing in the healthcare sector that received support from the PVV. She had been critical of the practice as a member of parliament, but she now said that legal hurdles existed and that such financing can be beneficial.[17] The House of Representatives urged Agema to prevent the closure of the emergency department and intensive care unit at Heerlen's Zuyderland Hospital, but she was unsuccessful despite the coalition agreement's commitment to retaining local hospitals.[18]

Political profile

In her political career, Agema has primarily focused on the issue of care, particularly elderly care. She has argued for the preservation of nursing homes. Between 2010 and 2012, the PVV's voting behaviour on this issue more often followed the political line of the left-wing parties SP and GroenLinks than the centre-right parties VVD and CDA.[19]

To outside observers, Agema has been described as belonging to the left-wing of the PVV due to her support for welfare state policies.[20][21] Following the founding of the PVV in 2008, she declared the party to have a "left-wing, warm profile" in the area of health care and as "strict, you could say right-wing" in the area of justice. She also cited British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as an influence.[22] She has shared the anti-Islamic positions taken by the PVV and Pim Fortuyn, the leader of her old party the LPF, saying that she became critical of Islam in her youth partly through reading books such as The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie and learning about the fatwa declared on him.[23]

Personal life

In December 2012, Agema announced that she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.[24] Agema went on maternity leave on 13 January 2015 and was replaced by Karen Gerbrands.[25] On 17 February 2015, she gave birth to a daughter with Léon de Jong.[26]

Regarding her religious beliefs, Agema has described herself as "lightly religious" and "not religious, but also not non-religious."[27]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Fleur Agema
Year Body Party Pos.Votes Result Ref.
Party seats Individual
2006House of RepresentativesParty for Freedom25,910 9 Won [28]
2010House of Representatives Party for Freedom 231,486 24 Won [29]
2012House of Representatives Party for Freedom 234,943 15 Won [30]
2017House of Representatives Party for Freedom 271,229 20 Won [31]
2021House of Representatives Party for Freedom 265,995 17 Won [32]
2023House of Representatives Party for Freedom 2117,255 37 Won [33]

Awards and honors

In 2011, Agema won the Angel of The Year award by PerspectieF, the youth-wing of the ChristenUnie.[34]

In 2025, Agema was appointed a Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau.

References

  1. ^"PVV-coryfee Fleur Agema groeide op in het café van haar ouders: 'Het was een soort Vandaag Inside'". Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). 25 December 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
  2. ^ abc"Agema in kabinet: beloning voor jarenlang hard werken en loyaliteit" [Agema in the cabinet: Reward for years of hard work and loyalty]. NOS (in Dutch). 13 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  3. ^Members of Parliament: Fleur Agema - website of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands
  4. ^"Agema is een 'tough cookie', geen prinsesje". Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  5. ^nrc.nl
  6. ^(in Dutch)Fleur Agema (PVV) ontpopt zich als klassiek KamerlidArchived 20 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine, NRC Handelsblad, 12 June 2009
  7. ^"Tweede Kamerfractie" [House of Representatives group]. Party for Freedom (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  8. ^"PVV schuift Fleur Agema naar voren als vicepremier". Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  9. ^"Koning: heel raar om op deze dag Nederland te verlaten • NSC gaat 'niet nog eens met PVV in zee'". 3 June 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  10. ^"Ministers en staatssecretarissen kabinet-Schoof beëdigd" [Ministers and state secretaries of Schoof cabinet sworn in]. NOS (in Dutch). 2 July 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  11. ^Aharouay, Lamyae; De Koning, Petra (31 January 2025). "Het is 'wel een beetje onvermijdelijk', vindt Fleur Agema, dat ook een keer een PVV'er de ministerraad leidt" [It is 'somewhat inevitable', according to Fleur Agema, that at some point a PVV politician would lead the Council of Ministers]. NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 January 2025.
  12. ^Agema, Fleur (6 September 2024). "Agema geeft eerste interview als minister: 'Ik ben zo bang dat ik te gehecht raak aan deze rol'" [Agema gives first interview as minister: 'I am really afraid I will get too attached to this role']. Algemeen Dagblad (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Niels Klaassen and Elodie Verweij. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  13. ^"Kabinet ambitieus over asiel en bouwen, maar stuit bij mest op grenzen" [Cabinet ambitious on asylum and construction, but is constrained on manure]. NOS (in Dutch). 13 September 2024. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  14. ^ abVermeer, Oscar (17 December 2024). "Voor zorgminister Agema stapelen de problemen zich op: 'De sector kan deze bezuinigingen niet dragen'" [Issues are piling up for healthcare minister Agema: 'The sector will not be able to handle these budget cuts']. NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  15. ^Zurhake, Sander (29 November 2024). "Gemeenten boos over bezuinigingen zorg, stappen uit zorgakkoord" [Municipalities angered about cuts in healthcare budget, pull out of healthcare agreement]. NOS (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  16. ^Lammers, Esther (19 December 2024). "Akkoord over onderwijsbegroting op losse schroeven, partijen komen terug op resultaat" [Agreement on education budget unsettled, parties go back on its result]. Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  17. ^Von Piekartz, Hessel (10 September 2024). "Kamer vraagt opnieuw om verbod op private equity in de zorg, PVV tegenover eigen minister" [House asks again for ban on private equity in healthcare, PVV against own minister]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  18. ^Kieskamp, Wilma (10 October 2024). "'Ultieme poging' Agema voor ziekenhuis Heerlen gestrand" ['Ultimate attempt' by Agema to keep open Heerlen hospital departments failed]. Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  19. ^"PVV-politica Fleur Agema: 'Het is elke week tentamenweek'". 21 August 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  20. ^"The Power of Populism Geert Wilders and the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands". Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  21. ^"Political parties matter: the impact of the populist radical right on health". Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  22. ^"Een stevige tante en bovenal 'een enorm werkpaard'". NRC. 21 April 2008. Archived from the original on 21 January 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  23. ^"Fleur Agema (PVV): 'Na de vorige verkiezingen waren we ook te vies om aan te raken'". Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  24. ^(in Dutch)PVV-Kamerlid Agema lijdt aan MSArchived 29 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine, NOS, 12 December 2012
  25. ^"Karen Gerbrands vervangt PVV-Kamerlid Fleur Agema vanwege zwangerschap" (in Dutch). Parlement.com. 13 January 2015. Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  26. ^"Fleur Agema bevallen van dochter" (in Dutch). De Stentor. 18 February 2015. Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  27. ^"PVV-politica Fleur Agema: 'Het is elke week tentamenweek'". Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  28. ^"Proces-verbaal zitting Kiesraad uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2006" [Records meeting Duch Electoral Council results 2006 general election] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 27 November 2006. pp. 131–132. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  29. ^"Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2010" [Results 2010 general election] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 16 June 2010. pp. 30–31. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  30. ^"Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2012" [Results 2012 general election] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 17 September 2012. pp. 60–61. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  31. ^"Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 2017 (getekend exemplaar)" [Results House of Representatives 2017 (signed example)] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 21 March 2017. pp. 64–65. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  32. ^"Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 18–19. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  33. ^"Proces-verbaal van de uitslag van de verkiezing van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2023 d.d. 4 december 2023" [Report of the results of the election of the House of Representatives on 4 December 2023] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 4 December 2023. pp. 33–34. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  34. ^"PerspectieF reikt 'Engel van het jaar'- prijs uit aan Fleur Agema (PVV)". Retrieved 11 December 2025.
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