Eppink was born in Steenderen, Gelderland. He studied Dutch law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (1977–1981) and thereafter European law and International Politics at the University of Amsterdam. In 1984 he moved to Brussels to become trainee at the European Commission. Thereafter he worked for 3 years as assistant to Members of the European Parliament.
In 1987, Derk Jan Eppink joined the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad where he was assigned to the foreign desk. He covered South Africa, worked as correspondent in Poland and became political editor reporting on Dutch politics in The Hague. In 1995, he moved to the Flemish newspaper De Standaard where he reported on Belgian politics. He wrote two books on his experiences in Belgian politics: Vreemde Buren (Odd neighbors), Avonturen van een Nederbelg (Adventures of a Nether-Belgian).
In October 1999, he started working as member of cabinet of Dutch European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein. He was Bolkestein's liaison with the European Parliament, speechwriter and also assigned to liberalization of postal markets. In 2004, in co-operation with Bolkestein, he published the book The Limits of Europe. In October 2004 Eppink joined the cabinet of Siim Kallas, European Commissioner from Estonia, responsible for administration, audit and anti-fraud. In March 2007 Eppink published his book Life of a European Mandarin describing his experiences in the European Commission.[1][2] A lecture he gave about this subject and about the European Union in general, at the Roosevelt Academy on 14 November 2007.[3] The book has been published in Dutch, French, English, Estonian, and Czech.[citation needed]
In 2009, Eppink returned to Belgium to run for the European Parliament for the List Dedecker party. He shares similar views to the party's leader Jean-Marie Dedecker.[4]
In an article in November 2013, Eppink made the point that fiscal consolidation in Ireland had worked well, and that the breakdown in Greece could not be blamed on so-called 'austerity'.[5]
Not re-elected in 2014, in July 2019 he was elected a member of the European Parliament for the Dutch right wing party Forum for Democracy (FvD).[6] In 2020, Eppink, along with the FvD's two other MEPs,He subsequently joined the JA21 party and in 2021 was elected to the Dutch House of Representatives for the party.[7]
Eppink signed the Madrid Charter, a document drafted by the far-right Spanish party Vox that describes left-wing groups as enemies of Ibero-America involved in a "criminal project" that are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime".[8]
^"Carta de Madrid". Fundación Disenso (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 December 2021.
^"Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 151–152. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
