Sjoukje van Oosterhout
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Sjoukje van Oosterhout | |
|---|---|
 Van Oosterhout in 2016 | |
| Member of the House of Representatives | |
| Assumed office 12 November 2025 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 April 1993 |
| Party | GroenLinks |
| Parent | Eric van Oosterhout (father) |
| Alma mater | University of Groningen (BA) London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc) |
| Occupation | Legal researcher |
Sjoukje van Oosterhout (Dutch: [ˈɕʌukjə vɑn ˈoːstərɦʌut]; born 29 April 1993) is a Dutch politician who was elected member of the House of Representatives for the party alliance GroenLinks-PvdA in 2025. She is also a legal researcher at Milieudefensie, and led the legal team that won the landmark ruling against Royal Dutch Shell, considered the first major lawsuit to hold a corporation responsible in line with the Paris Agreement.
Sjoukje van Oosterhout was born in 1993 in Veendam and grew up in East Groningen in the earthquake zone.[1] She is the daughter of current Mayor of Emmen, Eric van Oosterhout, who is a member of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA).[1][2] She has two sisters, and an adopted Greek stray dog, Benny.[1]
Political activity
In 2014, she was elected as Youth Representative for European Affairs by the Dutch National Youth Council (Nationale Jeugdraad (NJR), an umbrella for youth organisations. Then, she expressed interests in youth unemployment, education about Europe, climate and sustainability, and cross-border European cooperation.[3][4]
In the 2019 European Parliament elections, she was twelfth place on the GroenLinks candidate list.[5]
2025 House of Representatives elections
Sjoukje van Oosterhout was tenth place on GroenLinks-PvdA's candidate list and was elected (then installed on 12 November 2025), since the party coalition won 20 seats.[1][5][6][7][8][9] GroenLinks-PvdA was previously the largest opposition party but in fourth, losing 5 seats from the 2023 general elections, triggering the departure of the coalition leader, Frans Timmermans.[7][8]
She has expressed a primary interest in climate issues and policy, as well as the Dutch housing crisis, public transport, and representing Drenthe and the north of the Netherlands such with local issues such as high energy costs.[2] Her interest in climate issues and policy comes from her experience living in the Groningen earthquake area, and politicisation of it and Groningen residents' experiences.[2][1]