Alexander Kops
Alexander Kops is a Dutch politician. On behalf of the right-wing populist Party for Freedom, he served in the Senate from 2014 to 2017, and he has served in the House of Representatives since 2017.
Early life and career
Kops was born on 23 November 1984 in Leidschendam, and he later lived in Zoetermeer. Aged 16, he wrote a book about German grammar that was printed by Wolters-Noordhoff in 2003. He also wrote novels and poems in his adolescence, some of which appeared in the magazine . He called Herman Gorter his inspiration, and his poetry collection titled Door maanlicht gewekt was published in 2015.Kops received his propaedeutic diploma in German language teaching from the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in 2004, and he subsequently studied German language and culture at Leiden University until 2009. He was enrolled in Islamic studies for a short while. Kops taught German at in Leiderdorp starting in 2008, but his contract was not renewed a few months after he was placed 27th on the PVV list in the March 2010 general election.
Political career
In January 2011, Kops became a policy advisor of the PVV group in the European Parliament. He ran for the Senate Senate election|in May 2011] as the party's 14th candidate, but he was not elected since the PVV won 10 seats. He was sworn into the Senate on 8 July 2014 to succeed Marcel de Graaff, who had been elected to the European Parliament. He again occupied the 14th spot on the party list in the May 2015 Senate election. Despite the PVV securing nine seats, he was elected because he received more preference votes than any other candidate of his party. He was secretary of his parliamentary group from June 2015 until March 2017, and his portfolio contained foreign affairs, Europe, environment, spatial planning, and infrastructure. Kops also served on the Provincial Council of Gelderland from March 2015 until April 2017.In the March 2017 general election, he was the PVV's 19th candidate. He was elected to the House of Representatives and resigned from the Senate, taking his seat on 23 March 2017. Kops was re-elected to the House in March 2021 and in November 2023. He has served as the PVV's spokesperson for education, social affairs, housing, energy, climate, and medical ethics.