Toine Manders

Antonius Jozef Maria "Toine" Manders (born 14 March 1956) is a Dutch lawyer and politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the periods 1999–2014 and 2019–2024.

He represented the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) as part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe until 17 October 2013, when he changed party affiliations to lead 50PLUS (50+) in the 2014 European Parliament election, in which he failed to win reelection. Following the 2019 election, Manders returned as an MEP and joined the European People's Party Group. Starting 2 June 2020, he no longer represented 50+ but the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).

Early life and education Manders was born on 14 March 1956 in Stiphout. He attended the Academy for Industrial Design in Tilburg, graduating in 1982. He proceeded to study law Maastricht University, earning his degree in 1993.

Political career Manders started his political career in the municipal council of Asten, of which he was a member between 1994 and 1999. He concurrently served as a member of the States-Provincial of North Brabant since 1995. In 1999 he resigned from both positions to run for the European Parliament. He left the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy to become the party leader for the 50PLUS party in the 2014 European Parliament election, but the party didn't get enough votes for a seat.

Since joining the European Parliament in 1999, Manders served on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. In this capacity, he was the Parliament’s rapporteur on the Environmental Liability Directive (2004). In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the Parliament's delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. Manders worked on legislation mandating that bank account numbers be checked against provided names in online transactions to prevent mistaken transactions.

In 2009, Manders rejected as "outrageous" an allegation by a Protestant group that the flag of Europe is a marian symbol, saying that similar symbols were also found in ancient Greece.