THE HAGUE - After Joba van den Berg (CDA), Jorien Wuite (D66), and Sylvana Simons (BIJ1), the Second Chamber Committee for Kingdom Relations is losing another expert on the islands: Attje Kuiken (PvdA).
She announced that she will not return to the Chamber after the elections, but she will be available for a position in the new cabinet. During the formation of Rutte IV, when the PvdA still seemed to be a potential coalition partner, Kuiken was mentioned for the Kingdom Relations position.
Kuiken (45) entered the Chamber in 2006. Until her election as leader of the PvdA faction in June 2022, she was a loyal and active participant in debates on Kingdom Relations, repeatedly urging the government to do more to combat poverty in the Caribbean Netherlands. Her contributions to Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultations were appreciated by her Caribbean colleagues. As a scuba diving enthusiast, she regularly spent her vacations on Bonaire.
In recent years, the Chamber has already lost a lot of knowledge of the kingdom dossier with the departure of André Bosman (VVD), Ronald van Raak (SP), Alexander Pechtold (D66), and Ineke van Gent (GroenLinks).