Marcel de Graaff


M. J. R. L. ‘Marcel’ de Graaff is a Dutch politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands since February 2020, and previously served between 2014 and 2019. He represents the Party for Freedom and was co-president of the Europe of Nations and Freedom. De Graaff was a member of the Senate of the Netherlands for the Party for Freedom from 2011 to 2014.

Early life and career

Marcel de Graaff was born on 7 April 1962 in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. De Graaff studied theology at the Radboud University Nijmegen between 1981 and 1988.
De Graaff worked as a consultant for IT & Operations from 1 August 1989. He was a religion teacher at a secondary school in Rotterdam from 1 January 2010 until 1 July 2010. He also was a manager for KPN telecommunications company.

Political career

De Graaff was a member of the Senate of the Netherlands representing the Party for Freedom from 7 June 2011 until 1 July 2014. He was parliamentary group leader of the Party for Freedom in the Senate from 25 September 2012 until 10 June 2014.
De Graaff was the top candidate of the Party for Freedom for the 2014 European Parliament elections. He became Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands per 1 July 2014. He has also became the parliamentary group leader of the Party for Freedom in the European Parliament since the beginning of his term as an MEP.
In 2015, far-right MEPs founded the Europe of Nations and Freedom group. Marine Le Pen and De Graaff have been its first co-presidents since 15 June 2015. On 28 October 2015, De Graaff voted multiple times for Le Pen in her absence, which is against the European Parliament's rules. Parliament president Martin Schulz withheld € 1,530 in allowances as a punitive measure.
De Graaff was the Party for Freedom leader for the 2019 European Parliament election. The party did not obtain any seats in the election. His term in the European Parliament ended on 1 July 2019. In February 2020 it was announced that because of Brexit the Party for Freedom would obtain a seat in the European Parliament, which was assigned to De Graaff. He was appointed per 1 February 2020.

Personal life

De Graaff is a Roman Catholic and lives in Rotterdam.