Born on 14 March 1956, in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, Antonius (Toine) Manders is a lawyer and politician representing the 50PLUS Party in the EPP Group. From 1994 until 1999, he was a Member of the Municipal Council of Asten. He concurrently served as a Member of the Regional Parliament of Noord Brabant from 1995 until 1999. From 1999 to 2014, Toine Manders served as Member of the European Parliament and made a name for himself as an arch defender of the Single Market, for example, by fighting for the introduction of a standardised smartphone charger since 2009. In this current ninth term of the European Parliament (2019-2024), he is a returning Member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and a Substitute Member of the the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI). MEP since 1999.