Amsterdam gets its first ever female mayor

The city council in Amsterdam has nominated Femke Halsema for the position of mayor. She will likely be appointed next month and will be the first women to hold the position of mayor in the Dutch capital.

Many applications for mayor

Last October, Eberhard van der Laan, the previous mayor, passed away. As such, the position of mayor opened up. In order to fill the position, two rounds of applications were held, with 114 candidates applying. Finally, a candidate, Femke Halsema, has been nominated.

Currently, Jozias van Aartsen has been filling in as acting mayor, and will continue to do so until Halsema is officially appointed. Halsema is going to use the time she has left before becoming mayor to prepare herself for the new responsibilities she is taking on.

Mixed opinions about the new mayor of Amsterdam

Halsema sees it as a privilege to be able to serve her fellow residents of Amsterdam for the coming years as mayor. Before this role, Halsema spent many years as a high profile politician in the House of Representatives for GroenLinks, namely between 1988 and 2010. From 2002 onwards, she was the parliamentary leader for her political party.

Despite her years of political experience, not everyone was happy with the choice to appoint her as mayor of the capital city. In fact, a petition was made to stop her from getting into city hall, calling her too cold and politically correct. The petition was signed by over 7.000 people.

Johnas van Lammeren, head of the confidential committee which conducted the interviews for mayor on behalf of the city council, expressed that Halsema is decisive, unifying and knows the city and the different layers of society through and through, as well as the problems and challenges. He also articulated that she sees the opportunities and possibilities along with the vulnerability of Amsterdam in an inspiring way.

Before becoming mayor, Halsema still has to be interviewed by the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Once this has taken place, she will be announced mayor by the King and will be appointed in the city council by the King’s commissioner.