Marcel van Hattem

Marcel van Hattem (born November 8, 1985 in Dois Irmãos) is a Brazilian politician currently serving at the 54th Legislature (2015-2018) of the Rio Grande do Sul State Assembly. He is also a political scientist and journalist. Marcel earned a BA degree in International Relations from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and MA degree in Political Science from Leiden University. He is member of the Partido Progressista (PP-RS), a center-right political party. With the slogan "I do not want to live in another country, I want to live in another Brazil!", Marcel has been the voice of thousands of Brazilians who are tired of being suffocated by regulations, excessive bureaucracy, and misguided policies, that has led Brazil to an unprecedented economic, political, and moral crisis.

Marcel van Hattem is a political scientist, journalist, and Brazilian politician currently serving at the 54th Legislature (2015-2018) of the Rio Grande do Sul State Assembly.

Born November 8, 1985 in Dois Irmãos, Rio Grande do Sul (Southernmost state of Brazil), Marcel started working early. After the experience of working as draftsman (1999), paperboy (2000–04), and journalist (2003–04), Marcel is elected city councilor in Dois Irmãos at the age of 18, as a member of the Partido Progressista (center-right Brazilian party).

In 2006, van Hattem ran for the Rio Grande do Sul State Assembly, receiving 11.656 votes from across 185 cities. He also became president of the youth movement of his political party at state level. A couple of years later, Marcel earned his bachelor's degree in International Relations and specialized in Law & Economics and Constitutional Democracy, both from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) at the age of 22.

In 2009, Marcel was granted a scholarship to take part in the Georgetown University’s Global Competitiveness Leadership Program (Washington D.C., USA), where he was chosen speaker of the class of 35 young leaders from 13 Latin American and Iberian countries.

From September 2009 to July 2011, Marcel worked at the Brazilian Congress, in Brasilia, and, in 2010 he ran again for the Rio Grande do Sul State Assembly. Marcel increased his polling numbers, receiving 14.068 votes from across 288 cities. In 2012, Marcel earned his Master’s in Political Science at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Later on, he started working at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture, and Innovation in the Hague. One year later, he began a masters in International Journalism at Arhus University in Denmark. In 2013 he started pursuing a Master’s in Journalism, Media and Globalization – a joint degree program by Aarhus University in Denmark and the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, which is currently being concluded (2017).

In the 2014 elections, van Hattem received 35.345 votes, taking office later on, at the age of 29, as the youngest Assemblyman of the Rio Grande do Sul State Assembly. With the slogan “I do not want to live in another country, I want to live in another Brazil!”, Marcel has been the voice of thousands of Brazilians who are tired of being suffocated by regulations, excessive bureaucracy, and misguided policies, that have led Brazil to an unprecedented economic, political, and moral crisis.

Van Hattem has great interest in foreign affairs and events related to the promotion of democracy in universities, institutions, think tanks, and political parties. He was a foreign election observer to the Argentinian (November 22, 2015) and Venezuelan elections (December 6, 2015), and, in 2016, he participated in a mission to the Netherlands in order to analyze the possibilities of using the untapped waterways potential of Rio Grande do Sul state in cooperation with the Dutch government.

Representative Marcel van Hattem is also very active in social media networks (Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, LinkedIn) and is considered one of the most influential conservative/libertarian politicians of Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil. He has actively participated in the demonstrations of 2015-2016 that demanded and accomplished the impeachment of the former-president Dilma Rousseff.

Marcel is a journalist under MTE number 16.646 of November 19, 2012. He began his career working as a paperboy and reporter at a local newspaper in Dois Irmãos from 2003 to 2004. He is also an invited contributor to Voto Magazine and contributes to the Brazilian media writing opinion articles and doing interviews with renowned international experts. Marcel covered the Nobel Peace Prize to the Brazilian news in 2012 and was a foreign correspondent in Oslo, Norway of the following newspapers: Zero Hora and Estadão.

Marcel van Hattem is the youngest Assemblyman and is currently serving at the 54th Legislature (2015-2018) of the Rio Grande do Sul State Assembly.

In the 2014 elections of October 5, Marcel received 33.345 votes, becoming the first member substitute of his party fraction in Parliament. He took office in February 10, 2015, occupying the vacant seat left by Pedro Westphalen, who was appointed State Secretary of Transportation and Mobility.

Marcel had an active participation in all demonstrations in favor of Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, including those in April, August, and December 2015. He followed closely the votes in the Brazilian House of Representatives and the Brazilian Senate. The assemblyman also made a fierce campaign against the political support given by his political party (Partido Progressista), at the national level, for Dilma Rousseff’s government.

Due to the state’s fiscal crisis, Marcel decided that he could not morally accept the salary increase for the assemblymen, approved shortly before he took oath in 2014. The salary increase (R$3.827,93) is returned every month to the state treasury. This value is automatically deducted from his paycheck.

In May 2015, the bill “Escola sem Partido” (literally, “school without political party”) is protocoled, in favor of the teacher that really teaches, and against political party and ideological indoctrination in the classroom.

In August 2015, a bill to give better transparency of public spending on advertising by public agencies is protocoled.

Systemically, Marcel positions himself and votes against the increase of taxes and of public expenses.

Marcel also has great interest in foreign activities and events related to the promotion of democracy in universities, entities, think tanks, and political parties. He followed the Argentinian (November 22) and Venezuelan elections (December 6) in 2015 as an international observer and in 2016 he went on a mission to the Netherlands, in order to analyze the possibilities of using the unexplored river potential for transportation in cooperation with the Dutch government.