Vivianne Heijnen

Heijnen was born and raised in Spaubeek, a village in Limburg, with her brother.^[3][4] Her father, Thijs, owned a business, while her mother, Gabriëlle, worked as a logopedist.^[5] Her grandfather, Hein Corten, had served as the mayor of Ulestraten, Schimmert, and Susteren as a member of the VVD.^[6] Heijnen attended the Geleen secondary school Graaf Huyn College and started studying law at Maastricht University in 2000. She left two years later to study European studies at the same university and received her Master of Arts degree in European public affairs in 2006.^[6][7][8] Heijnen subsequently worked as a freelance lobbyist in Brussels for clients such as pension fund ABP.^[4][6] She took a job as tutor at Maastricht University in 2008 and became head of its Brussels campus the following year.^[8] The campus, which is situated in a single building and started out with a €250,000 annual budget, opened in 2010 and moved to a different location in April 2018, at a time when its budget had been doubled.^[9] She left her job upon her appointment as alderwoman two months later.^[10]

Heijnen participated in the March 2010 municipal election in Maastricht, being placed fourth on the CDA's party list.^[11] She had decided to become politically involved as a result of her role as a lobbyist.^[6] Her party won seven seats in the council, but Heijnen was not elected as candidates lower on the list had cleared the preference vote threshold.^[11] She was appointed to the council on 6 April after two CDA councilors stepped down to become aldermen in the new municipal executive.^[12][13] In October 2010, the CDA's council group leader, Peter Geelen, resigned following the falling apart of the government coalition, which later resulted in the CDA becoming an opposition party in Maastricht for the first time since World War II. Heijnen was chosen to succeed him in late November, and she said that safety would be one of the party's priorities.^[6] The Maastricht CDA decided the following year to call for the closing of all coffeeshops in the city because of the nuisances they were causing.^[14] Heijnen was re-elected to the council in March 2014 as lead candidate, while her party lost two seats.^[15] She headed a confidential committee in 2015 to find a new mayor for Maastricht, which recommended Annemarie Penn-te Strake.^[16] Heijnen also tried without success to bring the headquarters of the European Medicines Agency from London to South Limburg, when it had to be relocated as a result of Brexit.^[17]

She ran for member of parliament in the 2017 general election as the CDA's 26th candidate. She received 15,821 preference votes, 90% of which were cast in her home province of Limburg, but she was not elected due to her party winning nineteen seats.^[18] Locally, Heijnen was again her party's lead candidate in the March 2018 municipal elections. The CDA won a plurality in the council, and she kept her seat.^[19] She left the council on 18 June 2018 to become alderwoman and deputy mayor in the new municipal executive.^[20] Her responsibilities included the economy, the job market, regionalization, housing, well-being, permits, social innovation, and smart city.^[21] To increase citizen participation in local politics, Heijnen organized a forum, during which inhabitants could determine on which projects €300,000 of the municipal budget would be spent, following a similar idea in Antwerp. Its first round was held in 2021 after a number of postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[22] In the run up to a 2020 CDA leadership election, she endorsed Pieter Omtzigt, who would eventually lose.^[5] She stepped down as alderwoman when she was appointed Minister for the Environment in January 2022.^[23] She also withdrew herself as lead candidate in the 2022 municipal elections.^[24]