8. Maartje van Niedek

I am Maartje van Niedek, proud mother of the most wonderful daughter, and I am happy in Leiden. The combination of history and a new batch of enthusiastic students with new ideas and dreams every September gives the city such a nice dynamic.

I am fascinated by the power and powerlessness of communication (it is my profession) – perhaps the most important skill we have ever developed.

Words matter. They can make the difference between distance and connection. Between frustration and solution. Between war and peace. In our city, we have a beautiful history and millions of years of future. As long as we find the right words.

For me, that starts in the Leiden city council.

And given the complexity of today's problems, for me that starts with Volt.

Because of its pan-European nature and its open, positive outlook. Because of the conviction that cooperation is the key to the best results.

I respect what the city council has achieved recently. I would like to add European thinking and European experience to that. There is so much knowledge on our continent in areas such as housing, energy and security. I think we should combine that with our Leiden decisiveness.

Together, we can make Leiden a safe, strong, fair, innovative and cool home for every resident. Together with other cities, we can forge a close and powerful bond to prevent, combat or solve the Big Problems. I would like to contribute to that.