:: BORIS OVER

POLITICAL RESUME

Mr. Boris van der Ham is a Member of Parliament in The Netherlands. In Parliament he represents D66 (Democrats '66), the social-liberal party. Before becoming an MP he was national president of the Young Democrats and published several articles about issues such as the environment, participatory democracy and Europe. Mr. van der Ham originally trained as an actor and graduated from the Maastricht drama academy in 1998. Mr. van der Ham is one of the youngest members of the Dutch parliament. He was elected in 2002 as an MP and re-elected in January 2003. He is the D66 spokesman on environmental issues, (public) transport, domestic affairs, drugs, and agriculture. Together with MEP Davies (UK) and US-Congressman Greenwood he launched the idea for the Nobelprize for sustainable development. In May 2003 he tabled a bill (together with the Dutch Greens and Labour party) to hold a referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty. The bill passed and the first referendum in 200 years was held in the Netherlands.

At the age of 15 Mr. van der Ham became a member of D66 and the Young Democrats (YD). He was President of the YD between 1998 and 2000. After serving a stint in the staff of the D66-delegation in the European Parliament, he was elected as a Member of Parliament on May 23rd 2002 and re-elected in the 2003 parliamentary elections.

1997
-Wrote several articles about social-liberalism in the Netherlands
-Was a Member of the National Board of the YD: Political Secretary and Vice-President

1998
-Elected to serve a two-year term as President of the Young Democrats
-Wrote the article ‘D66, hit your darling’ about the future of the Purple Government (coalition of D66 with the Liberal and Labour parties)
-Member of ‘Upheaval’, a D66-network aiming to boost the social-liberal identity of D66

1999
As President of the YD:
- Organised a large demonstration against the government’s educational policies, attended by 20,000 students
-Wrote an article about investments in solar-energy projects
-Participated in the Young Leaders meeting of Liberal European Youth (LYMEC) in Barcelona

2000
As president of the YD:
-Published an article about Austrian-politics, Jorg Haider and Europe together with the President of the Austrian Liberals.
-Wrote various articles about the future of European regions.
-Leader of the D66/YD Project ‘Young Democrats, New Democrats’
-End of term of YD-presidency.

2001
-Worked as staff to the D66-delegation in the European Parliament.
-Served on the campaign team for the 2002 parliamentary elections.

2002
-Elected as a Member of Parliament for D66

2003
-Re-elected as a Member of Parliament for D66

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
1985-1992
Secondary education, Nieuwe Cope in Nieuwkoop and the Alkwin College in Uithoorn
1992-1994
History, Professional Education of the Hogeschool of Amsterdam
1994-1998
Maastricht School of Drama, B.A