Eric van der Burg

Eric van der Burg (born 9 October 1965) is a Dutch politician, who served as State Secretary for Justice and Security in the fourth Rutte cabinet between January 2022 and July 2024. A member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), he was elected to the Senate in 2019. Van der Burg previously had a lengthy political career in the municipality of Amsterdam which culminated in his brief service as ad interim Mayor of Amsterdam in 2017.

Early life and education
Van der Burg was born in Amsterdam, North Holland, but spent his childhood in Friesland. He later moved back to Amsterdam, where he currently resides. Van der Burg attended the secondary school, where he completed the VWO programme. After graduating, he studied law at the Free University of Amsterdam from 1984 to 1991, but did not obtain a degree.

Early career
Van der Burg began his political career in 1987, when he served as a district councillor in the Amsterdam district of Zuidoost. In 2001, Van der Burg became a member of the municipal council of Amsterdam, and remained in that role until 2010.

From 2014 to 2019, Van der Burg served two terms as an alderman. His portfolio included health, sport, spatial planning, airports and the district Zuidoost. In 2017, Van der Burg replaced Kajsa Ollongren as acting Mayor of Amsterdam for three months.

Senate
In June 2019, Van der Burg was elected into the Senate of the States General of the Netherlands. While a member of the Senate, Van der Burg has served on several different committees. From December 2020 to February 2021, van der Berg served as the vice-chairman of the temporary Research Proposal Committee for a parliamentary inquiry into discrimination in the Netherlands. The committee's proposal for an inquiry was accepted, and Van der Burg subsequently served as vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on Discrimination in the Netherlands.

State Secretary for Justice and Security
On 10 January 2022, Van der Burg joined the fourth Rutte cabinet as State Secretary for Justice and Security. While on foreign business, he is allowed to use the title "Minister for Migration".

During Van der Burg’s time in office, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović warned the Netherlands in 2022 that it is failing to uphold the most basic rights for asylum seekers arriving in the country. When the Christian Union opposed his party’s proposal to create a two-tier system for asylum seekers, with people under threat of persecution granted more rights than those fleeing war zones, and to cap the number of family members who could join refugees in the second category at 200 per year, Van der Burg reportedly proposed a compromise by making the family reunification rule an “emergency brake” which would only be triggered if the country’s migration facilities were at risk of becoming overcrowded. Shortly after, the coalition government was dissolved.

While the cabinet was demissionary, both houses of parliament passed Van der Burg's Spreidingswet. The law was intended to more fairly distribute asylum seekers across Dutch municipalities. Van der Burg's term ended on 2 July 2024, when the Schoof cabinet was sworn in. He was succeeded by Ingrid Coenradie as state secretary, while the migration portfolio moved to a new ministry led by Marjolein Faber.

House of Representatives
He was elected to the House of Representatives in the November 2023 general election that had resulted from the coalition's collapse. The VVD entered a new coalition with the Party for Freedom (PVV), New Social Contract (NSC), and the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). Van der Burg supported the coalition agreement even though it included the reversal of the Spreidingswet. In an interview, he told that he would not join the new cabinet because of his opposition to the cooperation.