Judith Sargentini

Judith Sargentini
MEP
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
1 July 2009
Constituency Netherlands
Personal details
Born (1974-03-13) 13 March 1974
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Political party  Dutch:
GreenLeft
 EU:
The Greens–European Free Alliance
Alma mater University of Amsterdam
Website judithsargentini.nl

Judith Sargentini (born 13 March 1974) is a politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands. She is a member of the GreenLeft, part of the European Green Party. Previously, she was chair of the GreenLeft in the Amsterdam city council.

Biography

Of distant Italian descent from Bozzano, Lucca, Tuscany, on her paternal side,[1][2] Sargentini describes her family as being "politically very aware".[3] As a child, her parents took her to demonstrations against the placement of nuclear weapons in the Netherlands. Between 1986 and 1992, she attended high school at the Spinozalyceum in Amsterdam. In 1999 she received an MA of history at the University of Amsterdam (specialising in totalitarian systems and the democratisation of Europe).[4] Since 1990, Sargentini was politically active, first in the PSJG, the political youth organization of the left-socialist Pacifist Socialist Party, and later in DWARS, the political youth organization of the GreenLeft, a new political party in which the PSP had merged. During her study, she was also active in the international student movement. Sargentini is a vegetarian.[3]

Political career

She was secretary of the Dutch National Students' Union (between 1995–1996) and board member of the European Students' Union (in 1998).

In 2002, Sargentini was elected into the Amsterdam municipal council. Between 1999 and 2002, she sat as a co-opted assistant on the municipal council. Between 2006 and 2009, Sargentini served as chair of the GreenLeft party in the Amsterdam municipality. She was spokesperson on work & income, youth policy, and public order.[5]

In addition to her membership of the council, Sargentini worked for various NGOs in the sphere development cooperation. Between 2000 and 2001, she was international coordinator of the European Network for Information and Action in Southern Africa. Following upon that, she worked as international-campaign coordinator for Fatal Transactions, a foundation that highlighted issues surrounding the international trade in conflict diamonds and the financing of (civil) wars in Africa.[6] Between 2003 and 2007, she worked as lobbyist at the Dutch Institute for South Africa. Since 2007, she worked as consultant for the European alliance of development-cooperation organisations Eurostep.[7]

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–present

In 2009, Sargentini was one of the candidates for the position of party-foreperson on the list of the GreenLeft for the 2009 European Parliament elections. While a candidate for the position of GreenLeft party-foreperson in the EuroParl elections-campaign, Sargentini emphasized issues such as development-cooperation, migration, climate change, and emancipation.[8] On February 8, 2009, it was announced that she was elected as lead candidate and party-foreperson for GreenLeft in the Netherlands European-Parliament elections. After five rounds of vote counting, she was elected with 52.4% of the tally.[7][9][10] In 2009, she urged the international community to start negotiations with the Palestinian Hamas, and condemned Israel for its "disproportionate use of power".[11][12]

Sargentini became a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs of the European parliament, and substitute for the Committee on Development.[13] She is also a member of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), which oversees the Parliament’s election observation missions.[14] Between 2009 and 2013, she chaired the GreenLeft delegation.

In addition to her committee assignments, Sargentini is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights.[15] She is also a vice-chairwoman of the cross-party working groups on fair trade (sponsored by Fair Trade Advocacy),[16] as well as on innovation, access to medicines, and poverty-related diseases (sponsored by Médecins Sans Frontières).[17]

In the European parliament, Sargentini serves as rapporteur on conflict minerals.[18] In 2014, she and Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš persuaded their fellow MEPs to back new rules under which public registers are created listing the beneficial owners of all EU companies and trusts.[19]

In 2017, she was appointed by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs as the rapporteur to examine triggering Article 7 proceedings against Hungary alleging breaches of core EU values.[20] On September 12, 2018 the European Parliament adopted a resolution to trigger Article 7.[21][22] The Hungarian Governement questioned the legitimacy of this decision on the basis of that the abstinance votes were not taken into consideration during the voting process, and turned to the European Cour of Justice for clarification. The Hungarian Governement also edited a 109 pages long answer, which states that the report contains at least 39 factual errors or fallacies[23]. The Dean of the Hungarian University of ELTE also claimed that contrarily what Ms Sargentini said, the university was not consulted during Ms Sargentini's investigation, and asked the removal of its name from the report many times- without response.[24]

Sargentini has led EU-Election Observer Missions on numerous occasions, including for the 2014 Tunisian parliamentary elections[25] and the 2015 Tanzanian general elections.

Other activities

References

  1. ↑ Johannes Domenicus Sargentini on genealogieonline.nl
  2. ↑ Bozzano is a frazione of the Comune of Massarosa, in the province of Lucca in Tuscany.
  3. 1 2 Interview Judith Sargentini Archived 2009-03-07 at the Wayback Machine. on Amsterdam.nl
  4. ↑ https://nl.linkedin.com/in/judithsargentini
  5. ↑ mevr. Judith Sargentini Archived 2008-06-05 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ David Cronin (October 1, 2003), Mining, Minerals and Metals European Voice.
  7. 1 2 Judith Sargentini lijsttrekker verkiezingen Europees Parlement op GroenLinks.nl
  8. ↑ Crisis? Welnee! Nieuwe kansen voor de wereld. Een manifest voor verantwoordelijk Europa on JudithSargentini.nl
  9. ↑ ‘Voor een schonere lucht moet je in Europa zijn’ in Volkskrant 8/2/2009
  10. ↑ Sargentini Europees lijsttrekker van GroenLinks op NRC.nl
  11. ↑ https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/praten-met-hamas-is-de-enige-vreedzame-oplossing~bef804bb/?utm_campaign=shared_earned&utm_medium=social&utm_source=copylink
  12. ↑ http://static.origos.hu/s/img/i/1810/2018100495.jpg?w=1327&h=607
  13. ↑ GroenLinks dik tevreden over verworven posities in Europarlement op groenlinks.nl
  14. ↑ Members of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG) European Parliament
  15. ↑ Members European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights.
  16. ↑ Fair Trade housewarming at the European Parliament Fair Trade Advocacy, press release of 8 October 2014.
  17. ↑ MEPs kick start their mandate with greater commitment to access to medicines Médecins Sans Frontières, press release of 7 October 2014.
  18. ↑ Andrew Gardner (March 5, 2014), Commission shies away from rules on conflict minerals European Voice.
  19. ↑ Nicholas Hirst (April 23, 2014), What the Parliament achieved in 2009-14 European Voice.
  20. ↑ Lili Bayer and Maïa de La Baume (April 12, 2018), European Parliament report calls for sanctions procedure against Hungary Politico Europe.Text of the Report.
  21. ↑ European Parliament to trigger article 7 procedure against a member state
  22. ↑ European Parliament votes for first time to trigger article 7 procedure against Hungary
  23. ↑ http://abouthungary.hu/speeches-and-remarks/background-the-government-of-hungary-on-the-so-called-sargentini-report/
  24. ↑ http://precedens.mandiner.hu/cikk/20180911_elte_sargentini
  25. ↑ Jeanette Minns (September 25, 2014), Election monitors European Voice.
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