Bart Groothuis

Groothuis was born on January 1, 1981 in Reutum, a village in the province Overijssel.[1] He grew up in that village and attended the high school Canisius.[2] Subsequently, Groothuis studied economics and history at Radboud University Nijmegen, and during this time he joined the Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy, the independent youth division of the VVD.[2][3] Alongside, he studied international relations at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael.[2]

His first job was as a political assistant of Henk Kamp (VVD), who was back then a member of the House of Representatives, between 2007 and 2009.[1][4] Groothuis joined the Ministry of Defence thereafter.[3] There, he served as the interim-director of the cyber security bureau from April 2013 until June 2014, when he became the permanent director.[1] Besides, he co-authored the VVD's election program for the 2010 general election.[4][5]

During the May 2019 European Parliament election, Groothuis was placed fourth on the VVD's party list.[6] He was also on the election program commission.[7] His party won four seats, and Groothuis himself received 21,353 preference votes, enough to meet the preference threshold.[8] However, Liesje Schreinemacher, who was fifth on the party list, rose one spot, because she had more votes, resulting in Groothuis not being elected.[9]

When the United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, 2020, the Netherlands received three of its seats. The Kiesraad decided to allocate these seats by treating them as restzetels (nl) from the last European Parliament election.[10] One of those seats went to Groothuis, who was installed on February 11 and left his job at the Defense Ministry. His term started retroactively on February 1.[1][11][12] When news publications including The New York Times reported in April 2020 that conclusions about Chinese disinformation had been toned down in a European report under Chinese pressure, Groothuis wrote a letter to Josep Borrell asking for an explanation. His letter was also signed by a number of other MEPs.[13] He also said he wanted the European Union to trace and sanction the people responsible for Chinese trolls and bots.[14]

Groothuis has voiced the opinion that European legislation surrounding digitization is lagging behind the innovations and that the European tech sector has fallen behind those of other parts of the world.[17] He opposes becoming technologically dependent on countries like China in a time when power is determined increasingly by technology. He has called for European investments to reverse course.[2][17] Groothuis also advocates a strong European defense to deter attacks.[2]

Groothuis has been living in the South Holland town Voorburg since the late 2000s.[18] He has a wife, who he met in 2004, and two children.[19][17] In his youth, Groothuis played football at the local club VV Reutum.[2] He is a member of a local chapter of Lions Club.[20]