Liane den Haan

Natalia Liane den Haan (born 24 August 1967) is a Dutch politician and former nonprofit director. She led the pensioners' party 50PLUS since late 2020, succeeding Henk Krol. Den Haan was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2021 general election. Following internal conflict within 50PLUS, she left the party on May 6th 2021. She chose to keep her seat in parliament as an independent member.
She was the managing director of LGBT rights organization COC Nederland from 2001 to 2004 and subsequently filled that same position at senior advocacy group ANBO. She left the latter organization after she had been elected 50PLUS in the 2021 general election by its members in October 2020. Den Haan has also held a seat in the Social and Economic Council (SER) and in the Woerden municipal council for four years as a member of Democrats 66 and the Labour Party.
Early life and career.
Den Haan was born on 24 August 1967 in Woerden in the province Utrecht. Her father worked as manager of a mortar factory, while her mother was a hairdresser. Den Haan attended the secondary schools Kalsbeek College and Minkema College, located in the same town, at and level. She subsequently studied nursery at a university of applied sciences and worked as a hospital nurse. Den Haan's father died when she was 18 years old.
At the start of the 1990s, after having studied business administration at The Hague University of Applied Sciences for four years, she took a job as operations coordinator at a catering and party service company. Den Haan left that company in 1993 and thereafter worked in recruitment and organization consultancy. She was an operations coordinator and later operations and product group manager at Van der Kruijs RPD Groep until 1998. She then worked for two years as a senior consultant at Verstrate Business Development Support before becoming CEO of The Office Managers in 2000.
COC Nederland (2001–2004).
Den Haan became the managing director of COC Nederland, an LGBT rights organization, in 2001. In an interview, she told that she had chosen for the federation because she wanted to work at a more idealistic place.
Den Haan managed to put the COC's finances and membership records in order, but the organization's problems returned while she was on maternity leave. Because of this, she advocated management reforms. Subsequently, the board of directors suspended her in spring 2004 and started a dismissal procedure, arguing that her leadership had resulted in a budget deficit and that she had pitted employees of COC against the board. A local judge determined that the suspension was unjust, as no proof was found to support the accusations. During an emergency general meeting in July, Den Haan was voted out by the COC's members, while the board resigned. She left her post on 1 November. The internal quarrel was one of the reasons for the establishment of the competing organization Homo LesBische Federatie Nederland.
ANBO (2005–2020).
In May 2005, Den Haan started working as managing director of ANBO, an organization with over 150,000 members advocating for the interests of the elderly. She managed to improve the financial situation of the association, which was €3 million in debt and was close to bankruptcy. ANBO became an affiliate of the trade union federation FNV in 2009 after the organizations had cooperated on multiple issues. The move was supported by Den Haan, who argued that it would give ANBO more tools to serve the interests of the elderly. It also resulted in Den Haan receiving a seat in the Social and Economic Council (SER).
Under her leadership, ANBO moved powers from its chapters to its headquarters: its board was dissolved and Den Haan was given a new title () in July 2013. Simultaneously, a supervisory board and a members council, whose chair was chosen by Den Haan, were formed. Members of the management of the Overijssel division who had criticized those reforms were expelled. According to Den Haan, the reason was that they were unable to explain the division's finances, but a judge determined three removals were unjust. When the organizational structure of the FNV was reformed in 2013 after internal struggles, ANBO ended its membership. Den Haan stated that the largest subsidiaries would keep their disproportional influence and that she wanted subsidiaries to have more say in issues in their respective areas of specialty.
In September 2015, ANBO's management blocked access to the bank accounts and member registries of its nearly 400 chapters after it said that at least €200,000 had been embezzled and that a letter had been sent calling to embezzle more. Volunteers were only able to use money with the approval of ANBO's headquarters. That led to the departure and expulsion of many volunteers in chapter managements, to the establishment of local alternative organizations, and to calls for Den Haan's resignation. Volunteers said their integrity had been publicly put into doubt and called it part of an effort to diminish the power of the chapters. The number of ANBO members decreased from 180,000 to 125,000 in the following months, causing the organization to lose its position as the largest Dutch interest group for seniors to the Catholic Unie KBO. In July 2016, ANBO's management disbanded all its chapters.
The advocacy group joined the Trade Union Federation for Professionals (VCP) in 2017. Den Haan again became a member of the SER when the VCP received a second seat the following year, but left the advisory body in the first half of 2019. Den Haan quit as ANBO director at the end of December 2020 because of her position at 50PLUS. During her time at ANBO, she was also active at Roze 50+ (Pink 50+), a cooperation between ANBO and COC Nederland supporting elderly LGBT people, and Fundis, a network of health care providers. Den Haan joined the supervisory board of Fundis (then called Vierstroom) in December 2010 and became the board's chair in September 2011. She left Fundis at the end of November 2018.
Politics.
Den Haan first appeared on the ballot during the March 2006 municipal election in the town Woerden. She was placed second on the party list of Democrats 66 (D66) and was elected to the municipal council. The following year, she switched to the Labour Party (PvdA), which cooperates in the Woerden municipal council with GroenLinks under the name Progressief Woerden. Den Haan was not re-elected in the 2010 elections, being placed seventh on the party list, but she remained a staffer assisting the caucus. She was on Progressief Woerden's party list once more in 2014, being their sixteenth candidate.
50PLUS party leader.
In July 2020, Den Haan was asked by 50PLUS chair Jan Nagel to apply for the position of in the 2021 general election. She was not a member of the party. 50PLUS had been without a leader since Henk Krol had left the party in May to establish the Party for the Future. The party's leadership put Den Haan forward as their preferred during a press conference in August after fourteen candidates had applied. During an online convention on 3 October, she won the member election with 52% of the 362 votes and thus officially became the party's . Five other people ran for the position including members of parliament Corrie van Brenk, who received 42% of the vote, and Léonie Sazias. However, the latter dropped out and endorsed Den Haan to prevent Van Brenk from winning.
Before her election, 50PLUS had opposed reforms of the pension system proposed by the cabinet, unions, and employers' associations, but Den Haan had supported them while she was ANBO director. After the election program was released, Den Haan called it a done deal and said that she wanted the party to be involved in working out the details of the reforms. Den Haan also wanted to widen the party's reach by taking care of future elderly people instead of solely defending the interests of the current elderly generation. The only incumbent on 50PLUS's party list for the 2021 general election was its . During the campaign, Den Haan explained that her party had abandoned its position that the retirement age should unconditionally return to 65 in order to finance an increase in the state pension. She said that, under her plan, people who want to retire at 65 as opposed to 67 should make an additional contribution to their state pension. After the party's third candidate, Ellen Verkoelen, had criticized those comments, Den Haan to no effect called on her to withdraw her candidacy if she disagreed.
50PLUS lost two of its three seats in the 2021 general election, causing Den Haan to become the only member of her party to have a seat in the new House. She was sworn in on 31 March and is on every standing committee. The falling out with the party leadership following this election loss made her decide to leave the party on 6 May while remaining on as member of parliament to represent the elderly.
Personal life.
Den Haan lives in Woerden, is divorced and has three children. During her marriage, she bore the last name Wubbels.