Derk Jan Eppink (born 7 November 1958) is a Dutch writer and politician, and former cabinet secretary for European Commissioners Bolkestein (1999–2004) and Kallas (2004–2007). In 2009, he was elected to the European Parliament for a Flemish party and sat on the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) Executive as Vice-President.
He masters various languages among them Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, conversational Mandarin and written Arabic.
Eppink was born in Steenderen, Gelderland. He studied Dutch law at the VU University in 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.
