Queeny Rajkowski

Queeny Rajkowski
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
29 March 2024
Preceded byJacqueline van den Hil
In office
31 March 2021 – 7 December 2023
Succeeded byJacqueline van den Hil
Member of the Utrecht municipal council
In office
27 March 2014[1] – 4 February 2021[2]
Succeeded byErik van der Marel
Personal details
Born
Queeny-Aimée Magdalena Rajkowski[3]

(1988-11-17) 17 November 1988 (age 35)
Nijmegen, Netherlands
Political partyVVD (2008–present)
Children1
Alma materLeiden University
Websitequeenyrajkowski.nl

Queeny-Aimée Magdalena Rajkowski (born 17 November 1988) is a Dutch politician, who has served as a member of the House of Representatives since the 2021 general election. There, she represents the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). She was also on the Utrecht municipal council in the years 2014–21.

Early life and education

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Rajkowski was born in 1988 in the Gelderland city Nijmegen to a Polish father, who was a teacher and an entrepreneur, and a mother, who was half Dutch and half Polish and worked as a manager for the province of Gelderland.[4][5][6] She has a younger sister and grew up in the city Arnhem, where she attended the high school Stedelijk Gymnasium Arnhem.[4][7] Rajkoswki moved to Utrecht to study economics at university and was a member of the student association Unitas. She switched to public administration at Leiden University after a year, and she became a member of the Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy (JOVD), the VVD's independent youth division.[4][8]

Career

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Rajkowski was elected to the Utrecht municipal council in the 2014 municipal elections, appearing fifth on the VVD's party list.[9] She became her party's spokesperson for safety in the council.[10] At the time, she had also been working for the government of the municipality of Utrecht since 2013.[8] Thereafter, she filled positions related to education at Orion Duurzaam Leren and eFcous before moving in 2016 to Valtech, where she would later serve as head of learning and development.[4][8][11] As a councilor, Rajkowski criticized the decision by SPO, which is responsible for Utrecht's public primary schools, to stop using Zwarte Piet in its Sinterklaas celebrations, saying parents had not been properly consulted.[12] Besides, she advocated closing Utrecht's street prostitution zone in favor of window prostitution.[13]

She was placed second on the party list in the 2018 municipal election in Utrecht and was re-elected to the council.[14] She became the VVD's vice caucus leader in the council, while safety, jobs, and income were among her specializations.[15] When the commemoration of the 2019 Utrecht tram shooting was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rajkowski called on Utrecht's citizens to observe one minute of silence and to light a candle.[16]

She ran for member of parliament in the 2021 general election as the VVD's thirteenth candidate and was elected with 3,246 preference votes.[17] She was installed as House member on 31 March and became the first person on that body of Polish descent.[18] Rajkowski had already left Utrecht's municipal council in February, and she also left Valtech.[2] In the House, she was the VVD's spokesperson for digitization, government IT, telecommunications, the General Intelligence and Security Service, and cybersecurity.[19] Rajkowski is on the Committees for Digital Affairs, for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, for the Interior, and for Justice and Security.[5] She called for Russian hackers to be put on the European sanction list during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[20] Rajkowski also proposed a ban on deepfake technology out of concern for its usage for revenge porn and political hoaxes. She raised the possibility of an exception for businesses using the technology for legitimate usages.[21] A motion by Rajkowski requesting the cabinet to draft such a bill passed the House of Representatives in November 2022.[22]

Rajkowski was re-elected in November 2023, but she temporarily left the House for her maternity leave on 8 December – days after the swearing in of new members. Her leave ended on 29 March 2024.[23] Her specialties were updated to digitization, cybersecurity, General Intelligence and Security Service, and childcare.[24]

Personal life

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Rajkowski lives in the city of Utrecht, and she got married in 2022.[5][25] In early 2023, she was a contestant of the KRO-NCRV quiz show De slimste mens, surviving four episodes. The first of those was seen by over 2.5 million people.[26][27]

Electoral history

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Electoral history of Queeny Rajkowski
Year Body Party Pos. Votes Result Ref.
Party seats Individual
2021 House of Representatives People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 13 3,246 34 Won [28]
2023 House of Representatives People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 12 3,289 24 Won [29]

References

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  1. ^ "Gemeenteraad" [Municipal council]. Gemeente Utrecht (in Dutch). Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Gemeenteraad" [Municipal council]. Gemeente Utrecht (in Dutch). Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Q.M. (Queeny) Rajkowski MSc". Parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d Rajkowski, Queeny (23 May 2016). "Ik krijg de kriebels van het woord kwetsbaar" [I get the chills when I hear the word vulnerable]. AD (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Hans van de Ham. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Queeny Rajkowski". Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  6. ^ Rajkowski, Queeny-Aimée (3 December 2020). "Utrechtse 'VVD-queen' Rajkowski gaat naar de Tweede Kamer: 'politiek is gaaf, maar niet per se mijn droombaan'" ['VVD-queen' from Utrecht Rajkowski is heading for the House of Representatives: 'Politics is cool but not necessarily my dream job']. AD (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Diane Hoekstra. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Feestje PLAY bezorgt scholieren goed cijfer" [Party PLAY gives students a good grade]. De Gelderlander (in Dutch). 21 March 2007. p. 24.
  8. ^ a b c Rajkowski, Queeny (29 September 2021). "Queeny Rajkowski (VVD): 'We moeten zorgen at we een digitaal knooppunt blijven'" [Queeny Rajkowski (VVD): 'We have to make sure that we remain a digital hub']. VNO-NCW (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Scheer, Paul. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Gemeenteraadsverkiezingen 2014" [2014 municipal elections] (PDF). Gemeente Utrecht (in Dutch). 21 March 2014. p. 38. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  10. ^ Maes, John (13 September 2017). "Pleidooi campus mbo-opleidingen" [Call for vocational campus]. De Telegraaf (in Dutch). p. 12.
  11. ^ Rajkowski, Queeny (22 February 2021). "Stem op een vrouw: Queeny Rajkowski (VVD)" [Vote for a woman: Queeny Rajkowski (VVD)]. Opzij (Interview) (in Dutch). Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  12. ^ Maes, John (1 December 2015). "Nog meer ruzie over Zwarte Piet" [Even more fighting about Zwarte Piet]. De Telegraaf (in Dutch). p. 18.
  13. ^ Van Renselaar, Michiel (9 May 2018). "Nieuw Zandpad weer verder weg" [Nieuw Zandpad again unlikelier]. De Telegraaf (in Dutch). p. 12.
  14. ^ Meerding, Tess (12 December 2017). "Kandidaten Utrechtse VVD" [Candidates of the Utrecht VVD]. De Utrechtse VVD (Press release) (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  15. ^ Van Dijk, Marjolein (9 April 2018). "Nieuwe portefeuilleverdeling fractie bekend" [New division portfolio caucus known]. De Utrechtse VVD (Press release) (in Dutch). Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  16. ^ Roving, Richard (13 March 2020). "Oproep: Herdenk slachtoffers tramaanslag thuis met één minuut stilte en een kaarsje" [Call to commemorate victims of tram shooting at home with one minute of silence and a candle]. AD (in Dutch). Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  17. ^ "Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 17 maart 2021" [Results general election 17 March 2021] (PDF). Kiesraad (in Dutch). 26 March 2021. p. 185. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  18. ^ Van Bekkum, Dylan (30 March 2020). "De nieuwe Tweede Kamer is diverser, maar ook Randstedelijker en hoger opgeleid dan het volk" [The new House of Representatives is more diverse but also more from the Randstad and more highly educated than the nation]. De Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Queeny Rajkowski". VVD (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  20. ^ "VVD: zet ook Russische hackers op Europese sanctielijst" [VVD: Put Russian hackers on the European sanction list too]. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 7 April 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  21. ^ Peer, Wouter (14 November 2022). "VVD wil een verbod op deepfakes: 'Sociale media moeten verantwoordelijkheid nemen'" [VVD wants a ban on deepfakes: 'Social media has to take responsibility']. AD (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  22. ^ "Tweede Kamer wil deepfake video's deels verbieden" [House of Representatives wants to partly ban deepfake videos]. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 14 November 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  23. ^ "Kiesraad benoemt vier Tweede Kamerleden" [Electoral Council appoints four members of parliament]. Electoral Council (Press release) (in Dutch). 11 December 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  24. ^ "Portefeuilleverdeling" [Portfolio allocation]. People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  25. ^ "12 november 2022". Goed Ingelichte Kring (in Dutch). 12 November 2022. NPO Radio 1. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  26. ^ Jansen, Dennis (10 January 2023). "Meer dan 2,5 miljoen kijkers zien ontsnapping bij De slimste mens in bloedstollend slot" [Over 2.5 million viewers see escape during De slimste mens in thrilling finale]. AD (in Dutch). Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  27. ^ Rajkowski, Queeny (15 January 2023). "VVD'er Queeny Rajkowski bereidde zich goed voor, maar gaf onder druk 'ongelooflijk dom antwoord'" [VVD member Queeny Rajkowski was well-prepared but gave an 'incredibly stupid answer' under pressure]. AD (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Hans van den Ham. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  28. ^ "Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  29. ^ "Proces-verbaal van de uitslag van de verkiezing van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2023 d.d. 4 december 2023" [Report of the results of the election of the House of Representatives on 4 December 2023] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 4 December 2023. pp. 15–16. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
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