In March 2023, I interviewed Caroline van der Plas shortly after the Dutch Provincial elections. She is the leader of the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), (The Farmer–Citizen Movement).
The BBB was founded in October 2019 by agricultural journalist Caroline van der Plas, Wim Groot Koerkamp, and Henk Vermeer from agricultural marketing firm ReMarkAble, in response to the widespread farmers’ protests earlier that month.
The BBB supports Dutch membership of the European Union (EU) for trading purposes but wants to reduce the power of the EU “to a level of how the EEC was once intended” and opposes federalisation of the EU. The BBB also supports Dutch membership of NATO and called for providing Ukraine with F-16s.
The BBB became the biggest part in the provinces with 19.19 % of the votes.
In November 2023, they won 4.65% of the votes during the Dutch national elections. making it the 6th biggest party nationally. They will be key in the coalition which is yet to be formed.
Van der Plas was born on 6 June 1967 in Cuijk to a Dutch father and an Irish mother. Her father, Wil van der Plas (1937–2014), was a sports journalist and worked for the regional newspaper Deventer Dagblad. Her mother, Nuala Fitzpatrick, is a retired politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), who served as an alderman in the municipal executive of Deventer. Nuala was born in Waterford but grew up in Limerick.
Van der Plas began her career as a journalist, covering the meat industry for Reed Business. She would later shift to communications, providing support to agricultural workers’ associations and the Dutch Association of Pig Farmers.
Originally a member of the CDA, Van der Plas left the party shortly after the 2019 provincial elections. During her membership, she frequently criticised the party for not doing enough to represent the interests of the agricultural sector. In response to the widespread farmers’ protests that took place in the Netherlands in October 2019, she then founded the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). Her husband sadly passed away in 2019.
The sound isn’t optimal during the interview, due to some technical glitches, but it is clear enough for the main part.
Source
History of Sorts 