Teun Struycken | |
Office1: | State Secretary for Legal Protection |
Term Start1: | 2 July 2024 |
Predecessor1: | Franc Weerwind |
Minister1: | David van Weel |
Primeminister1: | Dick Schoof |
Birth Name: | Teun Huib Desiderius Struycken |
Birth Date: | 30 October 1969 |
Birth Place: | Nijmegen, Netherlands |
Party: | Independent |
Relatives: | Teun Struycken (grandfather) |
Teun Huib Desiderius Struycken (pronounced as /nl/; born 30 October 1969) is a Dutch lawyer and independent politician. He has served as State Secretary for Legal Protection in the Schoof cabinet since July 2024, on behalf of the New Social Contract (NSC) party.
Struycken studied law at Leiden University, and he subsequently went to universities in Paris and Oxford. He obtained his PhD at Radboud University Nijmegen. He started working at law firm NautaDutilh in 2002, where his specialties were banking and securities law, and he has written for legal publications.
After the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB formed the Schoof cabinet, Struycken was sworn in as State Secretary for Legal Protection on 2 July 2024, succeeding Franc Weerwind.[1] [2] He was nominated on behalf of NSC, which had been founded the year before by Pieter Omtzigt, but Struycken said he would not become a member of the party.[3] His portfolio as state secretary includes the judiciary, the legal system, legal aid, sanctions policy, juvenile justice policy, family law, crime prevention, private law, Dutch nationality law, bankruptcy law, copyright and intellectual property law, betting and gambling, and personal data protection.[4] Following a pilot by his predecessor, Struycken worked on a bill to offer free legal assistance for parents facing the out-of-home placement of their children or the termination of their parental authority, along with other reforms to prioritize reintegration and preserve sibling bonds.[5]
His father was a professor in private international law at Radboud University Nijmegen, and his grandfather, Teun Struycken (1906–1977), served as interior and justice minister in the 1950s and 1960s for the Catholic People's Party (KVP).[1]