# Gijs Tuinman

Gijs Pepijn Tuinman RMWO (pronounced; born 15 November 1979) is a Dutch military officer and politician of the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB), who has served as State Secretary for Defence in the Schoof cabinet since July 2024. He was a member of the House of Representatives in the preceding seven months. Tuinman is one of the only three living knights (4th class) of the Military Order of William, the oldest and highest order of chivalry of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

## Biography

Gijs Tuinman was born in 1979 in Heerlen, Limburg, where he attended the Bernardinuscollege from 1992 to 1998. In 1998, he went to the Royal Military Academy in Breda. In 2001, he became a platoon commander in the Korps Commandotroepen to be. By 2009, he had been on at least five deployments to Afghanistan, several to Africa and other missions. On 7 October 2009, for a mission in 2006, he was awarded the Bronze Lion, the second highest military decoration awarded by Queen Beatrix.
From 2009 to 2012, he worked as a special operations policy advisor at the Ministry of Defence in The Hague. After this, he became a 'civilian' consultant at Deloitte. He returned to military duty in 2013.

### Military Order of William

On 4 December 2014 at the Binnenhof in The Hague, Tuinman was knighted by King Willem-Alexander, receiving the fourth class knighthood of the Military Order of William. The King referred to Tuinman and Epke Zonderland in his Christmas speech in 2014.

### Politics

He was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2023 as the third candidate of the Farmer–Citizen Movement, and he became the BBB's spokesperson for foreign affairs, trade, defense, and kingdom relations. Tuinman told in February 2024 – during the Russian invasion of Ukraine – on BNR Nieuwsradio that he believed the Netherlands should more actively support NATO's defense of Central and Eastern Europe against Russia. He suggested Dutch soldiers should be permanently stationed in Lithuania or Poland.
After the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB formed the Schoof cabinet, Tuinman was sworn in as State State Secretary for Defence on 2 July 2024. His portfolio includes personnel, materiel, real estate, defence industry, IT and innovation, physical and social security, and resilience. In September 2024, Tuinman and Minister Ruben Brekelmans announced €2.4 billion in increased yearly funding for the Netherlands Armed Forces. Coalition parties agreed to increase defense spending to adhere to the NATO norm of 2% of GDP in response the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additional funding would go towards attracting more personnel and the purchase of munitions, 50 Leopard 2A8 battle tanks, six F-35 fighter jets, two Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigates, and several NH90 military helicopters. The Netherlands had been left without tanks since 2011 because of budget cuts. Tuinman later told that he aimed to increase the defense ministry's personnel from 74,000 to at least 100,000.

## Electoral history

Electoral history of Gijs Tuinman :
| Year | Body | Party | Party | Pos. | Votes | Result | Result | Ref. |
| Year | Body | Party | Party | Pos. | Votes | Party seats | Individual | Ref. |
| 2023 | House of Representatives | | Farmer–Citizen Movement | 3 | 5,834 | 7 | Won | |

## Decorations

* Knight 4th class of the Military Order of William (RMWO)
* Bronze Lion
* Commemorative Medal Peacekeeping Operations
* Four Day Marches Cross
* NATO Medal