Michèle Rivasi

Michèle Rivasi (born 9 February 1953 in Montélimar, Drôme) is a French politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2009,[1] for Europe Écologie–The Greens.

Michèle Rivasi

MEP
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
14 July 2009
ConstituencySouth East France
Personal details
Born (1953-02-09) 9 February 1953
Montélimar, France
NationalityFrench
Political partyEurope Écologie–The Greens
Alma materENS Fontenay-aux-Roses

Education and early career

An alumna of the École normale supérieure de lettres et sciences humaines (Eng: Normal Superior school of Letters and Human Sciences), Rivasi worked as a biology teacher.[2]

Political career

Career in national politics

In 1986 Rivasi founded the Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity following the Chernobyl disaster.

Rivasi represented the Drôme's 1st constituency (Valence) between 1997 and 2002. She was classified as an independent ecologist close to the PS, but has since joined Europe Écologie–The Greens.

From September 2003 to November 2004, she was the director of Greenpeace in France.

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–present

In 2009, The Greens selected Rivasi to lead the Europe Écologie list in the South-East constituency ahead of the 2009 European elections, in addition to which she is an assistant to the Mayor of Valence, and a member of the General Council of the Drôme.

In parliament, Rivasi has served on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (2009-2014), the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (2014-2019) and the Special Committee on the European Union's authorisation procedure for pesticides (2018). Since the 2019 elections, she has been serving on the Committee on Development and the Committee on Budgetary Control. From 2010 until 2011, she notably served as the Parliament's rapporteur on measures to co-ordinate the European response to health crises such as the 2009 flu pandemic.[3][4]

In addition to her committee assignments, Rivasi has also been part of the Parliament's delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly since 2009.[5] She is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals[6]

Ahead of the 2017 French presidential election, Rivasi ran for her party's nomination for the presidency but eventually lost in the final round of the primaries against Yannick Jadot.[7][8]

Political positions

Rivasi describes herself as “vaccination skeptic”.[9] She is a strong supporter of alternative medicine and homeopathy.[10] She opposes the planned Midi-Catalonia (Midcat) pipeline that would more than double the amount of gas that can be piped across the Pyrenees mountains that border Spain and France.[11]

Controversy

In February 2019, Rivasi was one of four Green MEPs (the others being Molly Scott Cato, Tilly Metz, and Thomas Waitz) who were temporarily arrested after breaking into the Kleine Brogel Air Base to protest against the presence of U.S. B61 nuclear bombs on European soil; the protest followed the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty earlier that month.[12]

References
  1. "Your MEPs : Michèle RIVASI". Europa. European Parliament. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  2. Carmen Paun (January 15, 2018), Europe’s green brawler Politico Europe.
  3. Peter O’Donnell (July 7, 2010), Ministers admit flu errors European Voice.
  4. Dave Keating (December 7, 2011), Commission seeks powers to lead EU health-crises response European Voice.
  5. Michèle Rivasi European Parliament.
  6. Members European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.
  7. Sébastien Tronche (7 November 2016). "Yannick Jadot élu candidat d'EELV face à Michèle Rivasi pour la présidentielle de 2017". Le Lab. Europe 1. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  8. Quentin Ariès (November 7, 2016), French Greens pick MEP Jadot for 2017 presidential race Politico Europe.
  9. Rivasi’s blog.
  10. Reporterre, June 2019
  11. Geert De Clercq (April 17, 2018), Exclusive: Viability of French-Spain gas pipeline questioned - report Reuters.
  12. Eline Schaart (February 20, 2019), 4 Green MEPs arrested after anti-nuclear protest at Belgian military base Politico Europe.
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