Barry Madlener

Barry Madlener (born 6 January 1969) is a Dutch politician of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid - PVV). He was the Parliamentary leader of the Party for Freedom in the European Parliament from July 14, 2009 to September 20, 2012. He was a member of the Netherlands House of Representatives from November 30, 2006 until July 14, 2009 and has been again an MP since September 20, 2012.

Biography

Early life

Madlener has lived in Rockanje, and during his youth - with his parents and older sister - in the south Dutch seaside village of Oostvoorne. Later he moved to Rotterdam for his studies. After graduating from high school he became a real estate agent and spent a number of years selling commercial real estate. On March 14, 2002 he was inaugurated as a member of the Municipality Council of Rotterdam for Leefbaar Rotterdam. Together with Kay van der Linde he was also involved in establishing the Livable Netherlands political party.

Leefbaar Rotterdam

At the Municipality Council elections in 2002, Madlener was listed eleventh on the list of Leefbaar Rotterdam, the local party whose leader Pim Fortuyn was assassinated later that year. Madlener was considered a confidant of Pim Fortuyn.

The party won 17 seats in these historical elections on March 6, 2002. As a Council Member Madlener held the city's infrastructure portfolio. In that function he was an outspoken supporter of the construction of a campus at the Erasmus Universiteit.

As a member of the Municipality Council in Rotterdam for Leefbaar Rotterdam, he was in favor of prohibiting municipal civil servants wearing a veil. He put forward two proposals: A proposal to prohibit carrying religious symbols for all civil servants, and a second proposal to the same effect for teachers and support staff at schools. He also stated that Physical education at Muslim schools should be a mixed gender class.

Personal life

Madlener has a relationship with Jelena, a Croatian by origin, with whom he lives as of 2002. They met at the party office of Leefbaar Rotterdam. Madlener noted in an HP/De Tijd interview that most Leefbaar Rotterdam party officials have foreign life partners, and that this peculiarity seems to continue in the PVV party: That party's leader Geert Wilders is married to a Hungarian.