Eppo Bruins

Eppo Egbert Willem Bruins (born 19 September 1969) is a Dutch politician and physicist. He served as Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the Schoof cabinet between July 2024 and August 2025 on behalf of New Social Contract (NSC). He was a member of the House of Representatives for the Christian Union (CU) from 2015 to 2021.

Prior to his service in Parliament, Bruins was director of the from 2007 until 2015. Since 2022, he has chaired the (AWTI).

Early life and career Bruins was born on 19 September 1969 in Apeldoorn, Gelderland. He attended high school at the preparatory scientific education level at the Myrtus College in his hometown between 1982 and 1987. Bruins subsequently went to Utrecht University, where he graduated with a Master of Science (MSc) degree in physics in 1991. He played the piano at a conservatoire, but he never earned a diploma.

Politics Bruins was a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He switched to the more socially conservative Christian Union in 2011, because he felt that the latter party put more emphasis on Christianity. Bruins served as editor-in-chief of the magazine of Christian Union's scientific institute. He was his party's spokesperson for matters including education, media, and aviation. He was about to become a professor by special appointment at Leiden University, when he joined the Schoof cabinet. Bruins serves on behalf of NSC, and he canceled his membership of the Christian Union. Party leader Mirjam Bikker (CU) disapproved of Bruins's nomination. The Schoof cabinet's governing agreement prioritized reading, writing, and arithmetic abilities, as well as addressing the teacher shortage.

The cabinet proposed to cut the yearly education budget by €2 billion. Half of that amount was for higher education, and it would be achieved through lowering the amount of international students, increasing tuition for students exceeding the standard duration, and decreasing funding for research. The coalition agreement included a plan to terminate 1,200 recently created academic positions, but this measure was replaced in the budget proposal by the elimination of research grants. During debates on the 2025 budget, the cuts were criticized by opposition parties, whose support was required to approve the budget in the Senate. Bruins responded that he would not reverse any cuts, and he called them necessary in light of the cabinet's financial priorities. Without his involvement, the four coalition parties negotiated with several centrist and conservative opposition parties, calling themselves the "unholy alliance". In December 2024, an agreement was struck to reduce the €2 billion cut by €750 million.

Bruins continued a bill by Dijkgraaf aimed at reducing the number of international students. The bill would limit the proportion of English-taught content to one third within each bachelor's degree program, with the remainder to be taught in Dutch. Exceptions would be made for regional circumstances, labor market needs, international uniqueness, and international positioning. Bruins intended to define the latter two grounds more narrowly than his predecessor.

On 3 June 2025, Schoof's cabinet collapsed after the Party for Freedom pulled out of the coalition. Schoof remained as a caretaker until snap elections are held.

Personal life He is married to Marlies, and they have two sons. As of 2024, he lived in Ermelo. Bruins regularly visited the House of Representatives after his departure as an informal religious counselor along with a member of Justice House of Prayer, praying for members of parliament, and he blessed the temporary house of parliament, when the Binnenhof was closed due to a renovation.

Electoral history

+ YearBodyPartyVotesResult.Party seatsIndividual 2024 European Parliament Christian Union 15 1,075 0