The Rotterdam city council has nominated Carola Schouten as Ahmed Aboutaleb’s successor as mayor of Rotterdam. This was announced by Rotterdam councillor Ruud van der Velden on behalf of the council’s confidential committee, which conducted the mayor’s application procedure. This was done in collaboration with the King’s Commissioner of South Holland Jaap Smit.
Multiple top candidates
If Schouten’s screening goes well, she will be installed on October 10. Schouten’s name had already been circulating as one of the top candidates for the position. The announcement of her name was greeted with loud applause by the council members. ‘The new mayor will be installed on 10-10, how might it be otherwise in 010,’ said Van der Velden when the name was announced. According to SP council member and member of the confidential committee Theo Coskun, there were several suitable candidates among the 26 applicants, but there was broad support for Schouten’s candidacy.
One of those candidates was former minister Hugo de Jonge. On X he writes: To be honest: I would have liked to be. But the city is in good hands with Carola.’ De Jonge wishes Schouten ‘a lot of success and all the best for our beautiful Rotterdam’.
Poverty policy
Schouten (46) was deputy prime minister and minister of Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions in the Rutte IV cabinet on behalf of the Christian Union until the Schoof cabinet took office this week. In the third Rutte cabinet, she was minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. Party leader of the Christian Union Mirjam Bikker thinks the nomination of CU politician Schouten is ‘great news’. Former CU faction leader Gert-Jan Segers is also very pleased with Rotterdam’s choice ‘for this woman with such a sharp mind and such a big, warm heart’.
Congratulations
The Rotterdam branch of the Christian Union wishes Schouten ‘many blessings and wisdom’ in her new position. ‘We are happy that in Carola we will have a mayor who has a heart for the city and an eye for everything and everyone who is vulnerable.’ The Hague mayor Jan van Zanen congratulated Carola Schouten last night on her nomination as the new mayor of Rotterdam. ‘In her response she called it an honour to become a colleague, I think the opposite is true’, says Van Zanen. ‘I look forward to our collaboration in her new role. In the G4 context, but also within the Rotterdam The Hague metropolitan region. Rotterdam will have a committed mayor and I will have a pleasant colleague.’ The Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema also congratulated Schouten on the nomination. ”A wonderful office, for a great city. I am very much looking forward to the collaboration.’
Three out of four
With Carola Schouten, three of the four major cities will soon have a woman as mayor. After Femke Halsema in Amsterdam and Sharon Dijksma in Utrecht, Schouten would be number three. Only The Hague will then still have a man at the head of the board of mayor and aldermen, with Jan van Zanen.
