Halbe Zijlstra

Halbe Zijlstra (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɑlbə ˈzɛilstraː]; born 21 January 1969) is a Dutch politician of the right wing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He has been the chairman of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy group in the House of Representatives since 1 November 2012 and a member of the House of Representatives since 20 September 2012 and previously from 30 November 2006 until 14 October 2010. He served as State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the first Rutte cabinet from 14 October 2010 until 5 November 2012.

Halbe Zijlstra was born in Oosterwolde, in the province of Friesland, where he attended secondary education at vwo level. He studied Sociology at the University of Groningen, after which he worked for several companies. Having been a member of People's Party for Freedom and Democracy since 1994, Zijlstra served as a member of the municipal council of the city of Utrecht from 1998 to 2001, and again from 2003 to 2006.

He was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2006 general election, taking his seat on 30 November. In the House, he was his party's spokesman on care, energy, sports, higher education and sciences and biotechnology. Shortly after the election, he introduced a bill with measures to tackle football hooligans together with Labour Party MP Hans Spekman, and in 2007 the bill was adopted by Guusje ter Horst, who had become Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in that year.

On 14 October 2010, Zijlstra was appointed as State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the newly installed first Rutte cabinet. In this position, he was responsible for a broad portfolio of policy areas within the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, including higher education, science and knowledge, the training and labour conditions of teachers, culture and cultural heritage. In his two-year term, Zijlstra initiated several changes in higher education policy, including the introduction of scholarships more favourable for long-term students and the creation of the possibility to prolong one's study in exceptional cases in 2011, and placing base scholarships for Master students under the loan system in 2012. Additionally, Zijlstra initiated budget cuts in the culture sector, sharpening the conditions necessary to be eligible for government subsidies, and merging several cultural funds. These measures saved a total of 200 million euros.

After Rutte's first cabinet lost a motion of no confidence in 2012 and new elections were held, Zijlstra returned to the House of Representatives as chairman of his party's parliamentary group. In 2016, he announced he would not be available for a second term as parliamentary group leader after the 2017 general election, but that he aspires to become minister.

Zijlstra resides in Wassenaar, a village just north of The Hague in the province of South Holland. He has been an active member of a carrier pigeon club.