His Excellency Martijn van Dam |
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State Secretary for Economic Affairs | |
Assumed office 3 November 2015 |
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Preceded by | Sharon Dijksma |
Member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands | |
In office 30 January 2003 – 3 November 2015 |
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Councillor on the Eindhoven city council | |
In office April 1998 – January 2003 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Martinus Hendricus Petrus van Dam 1 February 1978 Zoetermeer, Netherlands |
Nationality | Dutch |
Political party | Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid - PvdA) |
Spouse(s) | Married |
Residence | Utrecht, Netherlands |
Alma mater | Eindhoven University of Technology (M.Sc., Technology management) |
Occupation | Politician, engineer |
Website | (Dutch) Labour Party website |
Martinus Hendricus Petrus (Martijn) van Dam (born 1 February 1978) is a Dutch engineer and politician for the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid). Since 3 November 2015 he is State Secretary for Economic Affairs. He was a member of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2015. He previously served as councillor for the municipality of Eindhoven. From the time he entered parliament on 30 January 2003 to 29 November 2006 he was the youngest member of parliament.
Van Dam was born in Zoetermeer and grew up in Huissen. He moved to Eindhoven with his family in 1990, where he attended the Eindhoven University of Technology (studying Technology Management). He was active in different student associations and also joined the Young Socialists (Jonge Socialisten) (becoming the president of the Eindhoven chapter). In 1998 he ran for the city council of Eindhoven and became a councillor, later speaker for the Labour Party caucus in the city council and member of the national party committee of the Labour Party. After graduating from university he worked at Philips until 2003.
In 2003 he was elected member of the House of Representatives, becoming the youngest member. He moved to Utrecht in 2005.
In his first period in the House Labour Party caucus, Van Dam was spokesman for media, technology and innovation. He quickly established himself in 2003 by frequently asking questions about the Discharge Fraud in the IT sector, whereby probation period discharges were being abused as a cost-cutting measure. Following the 2006 elections he became spokesman for foreign affairs, which made him the face of the Labour Party in the debate on the extension of the military mission in Uruzgan. In March 2007 he joined the caucus leadership.