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Fleur Agema
Dutch politician (born 1976) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Marie-Fleur Agema (Dutch pronunciation: [maːriˈfløːr ˈaːɣəmaː]; born 16 September 1976) is a Dutch former spatial designer and 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.
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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] From 1999 to 2003, she worked as a spatial designer and project leader for an architectural firm.
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Career
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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".[4]
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.[5] 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.[6]
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][7] 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.[8]
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.[9] 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 insurance deductible from €385 to €165 starting in 2027.[10] 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.[11] However, municipalities pulled out of the agreement in November 2024, citing insufficient funding.[12] 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.[11] 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.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15]
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Personal life
In December 2012, Agema announced that she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.[16] Agema went on maternity leave on 13 January 2015 and was replaced by Karen Gerbrands.[17] On 17 February 2015, she gave birth to a daughter with Léon de Jong.[18]
Electoral history
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References
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