Monique de Vries

Monique de Vries (born 16 August 1947) is a Dutch politician and has been with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy since 1973. From the period 1994-2003 she was the Secretary of State of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. and a member of the House of Representatives. During this journey the polar region impressed her greatly. From 2003 until 2010 she was chair of the Steering Committee for the Netherlands Polar Programme. From 2010 until September 2016 she was chair of the Netherlands Polar Committee.

She played a crucial role behind the scenes for Dutch polar research in her role persuading Members of parliament and Members of government to contribute to the Netherlands Polar Programme, during the five-yearly negotiations for new budget for this research programme both in 2010 and 2015.