Lousewies van der Laan
Lousewies van der Laan is a dutch politician for the left liberal Democrats 66 party.
Career
Lousewies van der Laan was born on february 18 1966 in Rotterdam. Van der Laan studied law at the university of Leiden. After graduation she specialized in International Relations at the School for Advanced International Studies of the John Hopkins University in Bologna. After an internship at Greenpeace in Brussel, she became an intern at the cabinet of the vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Andriessen. She is offered a position at he TACIS-program of the European Commission. In 1995 she becomes an environmental specialist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. She then becomes a member of the cabinet of the European Commissioner for External Relations, Van den Broek. In the 1999 European Elections she is a member of the European Parliament for Democrats 66. In 2003 she switches tot the dutch parliament. She is spokesperson on foreign affairs, higher education, justice, technology, European affairs and gay rights. She is vice-president of the parliamentary party and is president of the parliamentary commission on technology.