1.
Irina Khakamada
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Irina Mutsuovna Khakamada is a Russian politician who ran in the Russian presidential election,2004. She is a member of The Other Russia coalition and her paternal uncle is Satomi Hakamada, a longtime member of the Japanese Communist Party leadership. The Russia expert and Aoyama Gakuin University political science professor Shigeki Hakamada is her half-brother, in Kanji, her family name is 袴田, in katakana, her name is イリーナ・ハカマダ. She graduated from the Department of Economy of the Patrice Lumumba Peoples Friendship University in Moscow in 1978 and she later obtained her PhD degree from the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University. She was a member of the CPSU from 1984 to 1989, irina Khakamada was an elected Duma representative from 1993 to 2003. She is commonly regarded as a politician who is in a moderate opposition to the Russian government. She is known for criticizing the actions during Moscow theater hostage crisis where she was involved as one of the negotiators. Khakamada stated that the hostage takers were not going to use their bombs to kill the people and this opinion was supported by other negotiators including Anna Politkovskaya and by the subsequent events when the Chechens did not use their bombs. Khakamada was one of the leaders of the Union of Rightist Forces and she was not supported by her own party, because they regarded her as the only opponent of president Putin. After the election, Khakamada founded a party, Our Choice. She published book Gender in big-time politics describing her experience of work in Kremlin. On June 11,2006 Boris Berezovsky, fugitive from Russian justice system, said Boris Nemtsov received a word from Khakamada that Putin threatened her, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko said he had learned from Anna Politkovskaya that Putin asked Khakamada to pass a threat to Politkovskaya. Politkovskaya and Litvinenko were murdered in October and November 2006, respectively
2.
Leonid Kravchuk
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Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk is a former Ukrainian politician and the first President of Ukraine, who served from 5 December 1991, until his resignation on 19 July 1994. He is also a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and Peoples Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine faction. After a political crisis involving the President and the Prime Minister, Kravchuk resigned from the Presidency and he was defeated by his former Prime Minister, Leonid Kuchma, who served as President for two terms. He is currently retired from politics, Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk was born in 1934 in the village of Velykyi Zhytyn to a peasant family. At that time the village was located in Aleksandrija gmina, Rowno powiat in Poland, the village became part of Rivne Oblast in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after the Soviet invasion in 1939 when Kravchuk was a child. His father served in the Polish cavalry in the 1930s, and later he, during World War II Kravchuks father perished on the front lines. Kravchuk married math teacher Antonina Mykhailivna Mishura in 1957, first Lady of the United States from 1989-93, Barbara Bush, described Antonina in her memoirs, She was the nicest young woman, a math teacher with absolutely no interest in politics. Kravchuk joined the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1958 and rose through the ranks of the party and of its agitprop department. He became a member of the Ukrainian Politburo in 1989, and on 23 July 1990 became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR, after the 19–21 August 1991 Soviet coup attempt Kravchuk resigned from the Communist Party. After the Verkhovna Rada passed the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine on 24 August, Kravchuk was vested with presidential powers, thus becoming both de facto and de jure head of state. Later that year, on 5 December 1991, voters elected him president in Ukraines first presidential election. On the same day, the voters voted overwhelmingly to secede from the Soviet Union, Leonid Kravchuks political creed is avoiding conflicts and straightforward declaration of his position. He is widely considered to be cunning, diplomatic, and cautious and he describes himself as a man who refuses to take an umbrella because he hopes to slip between the raindrops. Such diplomacy helped Kravchuk to retain and strengthen his power over Ukraine during the transition from Soviet rule to independence and he was third in command in Ukraines CPSU leadership before the fall of Soviet Union even though he didnt belong to the ruling Dnipropetrovsk group. He avoided inflexible positions towards democratic changes and was a figure for both party conservatives and reformists. Soon after his defeat in 1994, Kravchuk joined the powerful business and this group, led by oligarchs Viktor Medvedchuk and Hryhoriy Surkis, is formally organized as the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine. Despite its formal centrist/social-democratic slogans, the party is associated with big business, organized crime, corruption. In 2004, Surkis was banned from visiting the United States, the group also took a strongly pro-Russian and anti-Western stand
3.
Leonid Kuchma
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Leonid Danylovych Kuchma is a Ukrainian politician who was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, Kuchma won re-election for an additional five-year term in 1999. His presidency was surrounded by numerous scandals and the lessening of media freedoms. Corruption accelerated after Kuchmas election in 1994, but in 2000–2001, on his watch the Ukrainian economy continued to decline until 1999, whereas growth was recorded since 2000, bringing relative prosperity to some segments of urban residents. During his presidency, Ukrainian-Russian ties began to improve, after a successful career in the machine-building industry of the Soviet Union, Kuchma began his political career in 1990, when he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada, he was re-elected in 1994. He served as Ukrainian Prime Minister between October 1992 and September 1993, since July 2014, Kuchma has been Ukraines representative at the semi-official peace talks regarding the ongoing War in Donbass. Leonid Kuchma was born in the village of Chaikine in rural Chernihiv Oblast and his father Danylo Prokopovych Kuchma was wounded in World War II and eventually died of his wounds in the field hospital #756 when Leonid was four. His mother Paraska Trokhymivna Kuchma worked at a kolhoz, Kuchma attended the Kostobobrove general education school in the neighboring Semenivka Raion. Later he enrolled in Dnipropetrovsk National University and graduated in 1960 with a degree in mechanical engineering, the same year he joined the Communist Party of Soviet Union. Kuchma is a candidate of technical sciences, after graduation, Kuchma worked in the field of aerospace engineering for the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipropetrovsk. At 28 he became a director for the Bureau deployed at the Baikonur cosmodrome. At 38 Kuchma became the Communist party chief at Yuzhny Machine-building Plant and he was a delegate of the 27th and 28th Congresses of the Communist Party of Soviet Union. By the end of the 1980s, Kuchma openly criticized the Communist Party, in 1982 Kuchma was appointed the first deputy of general design engineer at Yuzhmash, and from 1986 to 1992, he held the position of the companys general director. From 1990 to 1992, Kuchma was a member of the Verkhovna Rada, in 1992 he was appointed as Prime Minister of Ukraine. He resigned a year later, complaining of slow pace of reform and he was re-elected into parliament in 1994. Kuchma won a victory against the incumbent President Leonid Kravchuk, receiving strong support from the industrial areas in the east. His worst results were in the west of the country, Kuchma was re-elected in 1999 to his second term. This time the areas that gave him strongest support last time voted for his opponents, during Kuchmas Presidency, he closed opposition papers and several journalists died in mysterious circumstances
4.
Sergey Mironov
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Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov is a Russian politician. He was Chairman of the Federation Council, the house of the Russian parliament. He leads the faction A Just Russia in the Parliament of Russia, in 1967 he joined the Komsomol. In the 1970s, Sergey Mironov served in the troops in the Soviet Army. In 1973 he was elected as deputy secretary committee of the Komsomol on ideological educational work at the Leningrad Mining Institute, after graduating from the Institute he worked as an engineer-geophysicist. After a brief time of working as an entrepreneur, he entered politics and, in June 2000, he was elected vice-Chairman of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly and, in 2001, entered the Federation Council of Russia as a representative of St. Petersburg. In December 2001, Sergey Mironov was elected to be a Speaker of the Federation Council, Sergey Mironov is from Saint Petersburg. Mironov was a candidate in the 2004 presidential election and he was not considered to be a serious candidate and was quoted as saying, We all want Vladimir Putin to be the next president. He polled less than one per cent of the vote, in October 2006, he became the leader of the new left-wing opposition party A Just Russia, which was formed by uniting Rodina, Mironovs Russian Party of Life, and the Russian Pensioners Party. This effectively makes him the leader of the opposition as the three together would be stronger than the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Mironov has several proposed a amendment to the Russian constitution that would allow the President to be elected for 3 consecutive 5 or 7 year terms. In 2007, Boris Gryzlov, leader of the rival United Russia party, in the March 2012 presidential election, he received 3. 86% of the votes. In March 2014, Mironov was included in list of Russian government sanctioned individuals because of their direct or alleged indirect involvement in the 2014 Crimean crisis. On 25 July 2014, amidst an armed insurgency in Eastern Ukraine, third wife, Mironova Irina Yurievna - officer apparatus to the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS. They have a son and a daughter, Mironov has an official blog at sergey_mironov. This was confirmed as authorized by a statement on his official website, in 2008, President Vladimir Putin awarded Mironov the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd degree. In 2011, after an initiative of United Russia in Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Mironov was recalled from the Federation Council
5.
Abubakar Saleh Michika
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Abubakar Saleh Michika was the first civilian governor of Adamawa State, Nigeria from 2 January 1992 to 17 November 1993. Saleh Michika created a stir when he said in 1992 that he would be willing to relocate to the neighboring Cameroun if there were a coup in Nigeria. A pragmatist, before the 1993 elections he refused to meet Bashir Tofa, the candidate of his NRC party. Abiola, candidate of the rival Social Democratic Party came to his state, in January 2002, Michika described the National Assembly members as corrupt officials for whom he had no respect, and warned of the danger of another military coup. In October 2002, Saleh Michika was a contender to become the All Nigeria Peoples Party candidate for the Adamawa governorship. However, the commissioner of police, Alhaji Muhammad Sambo. The bandits just wanted to snatch the corporals gun, Saleh Michika is now retired from active politics
6.
Manuel de Brito Camacho
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He was the founder of the Partido Unionista, and director of the newspaper A Luta, the mouthpiece of the same Party. Manuel de Brito Camacho was born on Monte das Mesas, in the vicinity of Rio de Moinhos and he was the half-brother of Inocêncio Camacho Rodrigues, the governor of the Bank of Portugal involved in the scandal caused by the thefts of Alves dos Reis. After primary studies in Aljustrel, he attended the Beja secondary school, afterward leaving for Lisbon where he attend preparatory studies at the Escola Politécnica, as a ward of uncle in Lisbon. In 1891 he joined the Portuguese Army as surgeon-adjunct, and assigned to the units in Tancos and later Torres Novas. His political career began in the 1893 General Elections, when he was a candidate for the district of Beja on the Republican electoral list, at that time he published Nove de Junho, which questioned monarchist institutions. Following the election, he was disciplined, suspended for a year, shortly afterward he was reassigned to the Azores for his republican ideals, where he remained for a year. In 1894, he returned to Viseu, and began regularly contributed as a correspondent, in 1902 he presented a doctoral thesis in Medicine at the University of Paris, but abandoned his practice definitively as military medic, dedicated himself completely to journalism and politics. He promoted a conference titled A Coroa substituída pelo chapéu de côco, although disconnected with medical practice, he did run for a professorship at the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Lisboa in 1904. Brito Camacho founded, with other like-minded Republicans, the magazine A Lucta, the publication quickly turned into an influential republican source, transforming itself into an official organ of the Partido Unionista. In elections following the Lisbon Regicide he was elected as Republican deputy, transforming himself in the National Assembly, Camacho was one of the leaders of the movement that created the conditions for the implantation of the First Portuguese Republic on 5 October 1910. In preparation for events, Brito Camacho was an important connection between the Republican movement and segments of the Army with republican ideals. His political actions and connection with the Republican movement allowed him to mediate during the process of forming the Provisional Government that followed, on 23 November 1910 he was named the Ministério do Fomento in the Provisional Government of Teófilo Braga. Courses in these fields were also standardized with a period of study lasting two-years followed by a three-year period of specialized study. In December 1910 Camacho was responsible for the creation of the Associação de Classe Industrial de Veículos e Artes Correlativas, in September 1911, in the first post-Revolutionary elections, he was returned to the government benches. But, as Brito Camacho resumed the directorship of A Lucta and he eventually led a faction on the right of the political spectrum whom split from the Republican Party to form the Partido da União Republicana, later abbreviated to the Partido Unionista. The newspaper, A Luta began to function as an organ of the Party, in 1918, after the election of António José de Almeida as President, the Unionist and Evolutionist Parties decided to merge, creating the Partido Liberal Republicano. Between March 1921 and September 1923 he exercised functions as the Republican High-Commissioner in Portuguese Mozambique, generally, he was a militant republican throughout his life, with an acidic tongue and who was not too popular or respected during his time. His acerbic humor was a reflection of his upbringing and life
7.
Jeroen Lenaers
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Jeroen Lenaers is a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal, part of the European Peoples Party, Lenaers previously worked as a policy assistant to Ria Oomen-Ruijten, then Member of the European Parliament for the CDA. Lenaers studied European Studies at Maastricht University between 2003 and 2008, Lenaers was second on the CDA candidate list for the 2014 European Parliament election. He was elected through preference votes, a member of the European Peoples Party Group, Lenaers currently serves on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. In addition, he holds the position of vice-chairman of the delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia. Jeroen Lenaers MEP, official site Page on Parlement. com
8.
Angelika Mlinar
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Angelika Rosa Mlinar is an Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament from Austria. She is a member of NEOS – The New Austria, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Beginning in 1988 through 1993, Angelika Mlinar studied legal science at the University in Salzburg and in the year 1994/5 completed her masters at the American University in Washington, D. C. Back in Salzburg, she finished her degree with her dissertation on the topic of Womens rights as human rights. She gained first political experience as an assistant in the office of Friedhelm Frischenschlager in the European Parliament, the topics she covered included human rights and the judicial system, as well as European cooperation with Criminal law. Afterwards, Angelika Mlinar worked as Project Assistant and then Project Leader in different legal fields with various European institutions and delegations, Mlinar ran the political campaign for Carinthias leading candidate Rudi Vouk for the Austrian parliamentary elections in 2008. In 2009 she was elected chair of the Liberal Forum party, in May 2010 she became the leading candidate of LIF for the Vienna provincial assembly and for the elections at the Municipal Council on October 10,2010. In addition, from May 2009 until July 2010 she was the secretary of the National Council of Carinthian Slovenians. On February 15,2014, in the process for the 2014 European elections. She listed in the first place on the party list for a mandate as Member of the European Parliament, on July 1,2014 Angelika Mlinar left the national council and took up her position as Member of the European Parliament. In addition to her assignments, she is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights. In her work as an MEP, Mlinar advocates for a cohesive and stronger Europe. In November 2014, Mlinar was elected vice-president of ALDE and thus part of the leadership team around president Hans van Baalen
9.
Karin Kadenbach
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Karin Emilia Kadenbach is an Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament from Austria. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Party of European Socialists, Karin Kadenbach was born in 1958 in Vienna, where she also went to school. She was able to spend a year at the Elmire Free Academy in New York. After her school leaving examination she did a University course for advertisement, starting from 1976 she was working in the advertising agency J. Walter Thomson. Karin Kadenbach has five children and lives in Brussels and in Lower Austria, from 1985 to 1994 Karin Kadenbach worked as secretary of the women group of the social democratic party in Lower Austria. In 1990 she was elected in the municipal council of Großmugl. In 2001 she became member of the council of Lower Austria where she also was responsible for health. Kadenbach has been a Member of the European Parliament since she won a seat at the 2009 European elections, since then she is member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. Moreover she was in the delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia. In October 2013, Kadenbach was rapporteur for the report on Eco-innovations – Jobs, with this report strategies for the creation on sustainable economic growth and connected also an increase for jobs were set. In 37 cases, she served as shadow rapporteur, additionally, she is vice president of the parliaments delegation for relations with Japan and substitute member in the Delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula. Additionally she was shadow rapporteur on the review of the EU biodiversity strategy. Since 2015, Kadenbach has been serving as vice-president of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare, in addition, she is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Western Sahara and the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights. International Forum Gastein, Vice-President Homepage of Karin Kadenbach Facebook-Page of Karin Kadenbach Personal profile of Karin Kadenbach in the European Parliaments database of members VoteWatch
10.
Ulrike Lunacek
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Ulrike Lunacek is an Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament from Austria. She is a member of the Austrian Green Party, part of the European Green Party and she is Vice President of the European Parliament, Member of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament since 2009 and head of delegation of the Austrian Greens in the European Parliament. From 1967 to 1975 Lunacek attended high school in the district of Vienna. Furthermore, she spent 1 year as an AFS-student at a school in Boone. In 1975 she started studying interpreting at the University of Innsbruck, during this time she was involved in the establishment of the womens refuge Innsbruck and did social work. From 1984 to 1986 she was an adviser for the organization Frauensolidarität in Vienna, afterwards Lunacek was editor of the magazine Südwind and press officer of the Austrian Information Service for Development Politics. In addition she worked as a translator and journalist. From 1999 to 2009, Lunacek was a member of parliament, also starting in 1999, she was deputy chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. As the first openly lesbian politician in the Austrian Parliament, she is also a member of the Greens andersrum and she had her coming-out in 1980. Since 1994 she is living with a native Peruvian, on 5 May 2006 Lunacek was elected co-chair of the European Green Party in Helsinki, a position she held for 3 years. On 28 October 2008 she became vice-chair of the Green Parliamentary Club in Austria and was nominated frontrunner for the 2009 European Parliament election, on 14 July 2009 Lunacek moved into Parliament as head of delegation of the Austrian Greens. Moreover, she is the Parliaments Rapporteur for Kosovo and the foreign affairs spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group, as co-president of the European Parliaments Intergroup on LGBTI Rights Lunacek also fights for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons. In addition, she is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Western Sahara, Lunacek has led EU-Election Observer Missions on numerous occasions, including for the 2013 Honduran general elections. In February 2013 Lunacek was elected vice-president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, under the leadership of Rebecca Harms, following the 2014 European elections, the group voted to her as candidate for the presidency of the European Parliament. She has since been serving as one of the fourteen Vice Presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the president in presiding over the plenary, in this capacity, she is in charge of the parliament’s Sakharov Prize and representing the parliament in matters concerning the Western Balkans. In 2013, Lunacek advocated for a resolution on Sexual and Reproductive Health. That called for age-appropriate and gender-sensitive sexuality and relationship education, for all children and adolescents and referenced a document co-authored by the WHO in which some sexuality information is deemed appropriate from age 4. After some controversy, the European Parliament instead passed a version which declared sexual education a competence of the member states
11.
Othmar Karas
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Othmar Karas is an Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament from Austria. He is a member of the Austrian Peoples Party, part of the European Peoples Party and he sits on the European Parliaments Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect. Between 2012 and 2014, he was one of the Vice Presidents of the European Parliament, master of European and International Business Law, University of St. He has since been serving on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, in addition to his committee assignments, Karas has been the chairman of the parliaments delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee since 2014. He previously serves as member of the delegation for relations with Japan, in the European Parliament, Karas has become one of the center-right’s experts on financial regulation. As the rapporteur for the Capital Requirements Directive IV, he played a role in the parliamentary implementation of capital requirements agreed in the Basel III accords. He helped negotiate a 2013 agreement on an EU-wide cap on bankers bonuses, ahead of the 2014 European elections, the ÖVP re-nominated Karas as its lead candidate. At the time, he was considered by Austrian media as a successor to Johannes Hahn as Austrian nominee for European Commissioner. Christa Waldheim-Karas, daughter of Kurt Waldheim and Elisabeth Waldheim, official website European Parliament biography Declaration of financial interests
12.
Evelyn Regner
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Evelyn Regner is an Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament from Austria. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, Evelyn Regner grew up in the second district of Vienna and went to school at Sigmund-Freud-Gymnasium. She graduated from gymnasium and went on to law in Vienna. After obtaining her degree in law studies at the University of Salzburg and finishing up her clerkship, from the time period of January 2009 until her election to the European parliament she was named the head of the department of EU and International Affairs of the Austrian Trade Federation. Further memberships that Evelyn Regner has taken up in time period were of the European Economic and Social Committee. Moreover, she was a member of the European Trade Union Confederation, of the International Trade Union Confederation as well as the Trade Union. In Vienna as well as Brussels, Evelyn Regners main focus has always been on labour-related affairs, namely the improvement of workers rights, additionally, she is dedicating her work to arising matters of financial markets and inequality in the fields of gender politics, taxes and wealth. Moreover, she has elected a member of the special parliamentary committee on tax ruling in February 2015
13.
Josef Weidenholzer
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Josef Weidenholzer is an Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament from Austria. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Party of European Socialists, Professor of Social Policy and since 1998 Director of the Institute for Social Policy at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. Since 1991 he is the President of Volkshilfe Österreich and of the European NGO platform ´Solidar´ and he is a Member of the European Parliament of the 7th parliamentary term. As a student be became engaged in the Association for Socialist Students VSStÖ. In 1973 he completed his Magister degree, followed by his doctorate in 1977, in addition, he has worked for Karl Stadler at the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft for the History of the Workers Movement, at the University of Linz. He enjoyed repeated research stays in Great Britain and earned a guest professorship at Staffordshire University, with his reputation thus enhanced, Weidenholzer was appointed Extraordinary University Professor for Societal and Social Policy. In 1984, Weidenholzer was awarded the Advancement Award by the Victor Adler National Award for the history of social movements. From 1984 until 1998, he was director of the Research Institute for social planning and, from 1998 until 2003, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Economy in Linz. He also focuses on the theory and history of movements, in particular the workers movements. Josef Weidenholzer is considered to be a convinced European and committed professor, as the president of the Volkshilfe, he fights for social justice and takes a strong public stand on the issue of marginalization. He also politically commits himself to improving the situation of the socially disadvantaged- an issue which is of concern to him. Weidenholzer stood as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party of Austria during the European elections in 2009, with the Lisbon Treaty, which resulted in a regulated increase in the number of Members, he became a Member of the European Parliament on 1 December 2011. In 2008, Weidenholzer was a member of the Momentum congress and is since. He is member of the board of the 2012 founded open access- scientific journal Momentum Quarterly. Weidenholzer is a Member of the European Parliament since 2011 and forms part of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. He also is a deputy member of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection, in March 2012, he joined the temporary Special Committee against Organised crime, corruption and money laundering
14.
Herman Van Rompuy
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Herman Achille, Count Van Rompuy is a Belgian and European politician, who formerly served as Prime Minister of Belgium and then as the first President of the European Council. A politician from Belgiums Christian Democratic and Flemish party, Van Rompuy served as the 49th prime minister of Belgium from 30 December 2008 until Yves Leterme succeeded him on 25 November 2009. He was appointed for the period from 1 December 2009 until 31 May 2012, on 1 March 2012 he was re-elected for a second term, to last from 1 June 2012 until 30 November 2014. Born in Etterbeek, Brussels, to Dr Vic Van Rompuy and Germaine Geens, he attended Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege in Brussels, during his early teens, he was an avid rock and roll fan, especially of US singer Elvis Presley. Later he studied at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and received a degree in philosophy. He worked at the Belgian central bank from 1972 to 1975, from 1980 to 1987 he was a lecturer at the Handelshogeschool Antwerpen, from 1982 he was also a lecturer at the Vlaamse Economische Hogeschool Brussel. Van Rompuy is married to Geertrui Windels, with whom he has four children, Peter, Laura, Elke and his eldest son, Peter, is active in the Christian Democratic and Flemish party and stood as a candidate in the Belgian regional elections of 2009. His younger brother, Eric Van Rompuy, is also a politician in the CD&V and was a minister in the Flemish Government from 1995 to 1999 and his sister, Tine Van Rompuy, is a member of the Workers Party of Belgium. He has another sister, Anita Van Rompuy, who is not politically active and his father, Vic Van Rompuy, was an economics professor. Van Rompuy was the chairman of the national Christian Peoples Partys youth council, from 1975 to 1980 he worked in the ministerial cabinets of Leo Tindemans and Gaston Geens. In 1978 he was elected a member of the national CVPs bureau and he first was elected to the Belgian Senate in 1988 and served until 1995. In 1988 he shortly served as Secretary of State for Finance and for Small, Van Rompuy was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget from September 1993 to July 1999 in the two governments led by Jean-Luc Dehaene. As budget minister, together with finance minister Philippe Maystadt, he helped drive down Belgiums debt from a peak of 135% of gross domestic product in 1993 and it fell to below 100% of GDP in 2003. He was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in the 1995 general election, after his partys defeat in the 1999 Belgian general election, he became a member of the Chamber of Representatives. He was re-elected in 2003 and 2007, in 2004, he was designated Minister of State. Before he was President, Van Rompuy expressed reticence about possible Turkish membership of the EU, in 2004, he stated An enlargement with Turkey is not in any way comparable with previous enlargement waves. Turkey is not Europe and will never be Europe, as President, Van Rompuy has avoided opposing Turkish membership. On 23 December 2010, he said Turkish reform efforts have delivered impressive results and he continued Turkey plays an ever more active role in its neighbourhood
15.
Philippe Lamberts
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Philippe Lamberts is a Belgian politician. Lamberts graduated as an engineer at the Université catholique de Louvain in 1986, from 1987 to 2009 he worked at IBM in a variety of positions, also as a manager. Between 1999 and 2003 he was an adviser of the Vice-Prime Minister Isabelle Durant on foreign affairs, Lamberts was the co-spokesperson of the European Green Party between 2006 and 2012. and has been a Member of the European Parliament for the Ecolo party since 2009. He has been leading the Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament since 2014 and he is a member of the European Parliaments Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy. Philippe Lamberts personal website Lamberts official page on the European Parliament website
16.
Christel Schaldemose
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Christel Schaldemose is an Danish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Denmark. She is a member of the Social Democrats, part of the Party of European Socialists and she is a member of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection and the Committee on Culture and Education. Schaldemose has a masters in history from the University of Southern Denmark and she has worked professionally with adult education and popular enlightenment on national and regional level. Her previous job was secretary general of the Danish Adult Education Council, Schaldemose has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2006. She has since been serving on the Committee on the Internal Market, in this capacity, she works on consumer, cultural and education policy. In 2016, she joined the Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector. In addition to her assignments, Schadelmose has been a member of the Parliaments delegation for relations with Japan since 2009. Schaldemose is a member of the MEP Heart Group, a group of parliamentarians who have an interest in promoting measures that help reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases. On 4 May 2008, Schaldemose launched the citizens initiative Females in Front with MEPs from other EU countries, the campaign demands that at least one woman is appointed to one of the four top positions in the EU to be filled in 2009. She also led an initiative requiring all consumer products to indicate their country of origin, Schaldemose lives in Copenhagen with her husband and three children
17.
Bendt Bendtsen
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Bendt Bendtsen is a Danish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Denmark. He is a member of the Conservative Peoples Party, part of the European Peoples Party, Bendt Bendtsen was the Conservative Partys social policy spokesman from 1994 to 1995, its labour market spokesman from 1995 to 1998, and its legal policy spokesman from 1998 to 1999. He became the leader of the Conservative Party on 5 August 1999. He was the leader of the Conservative Peoples Party from 1999 to 2008 and he was the Minister of Trade and Industry from 2001 to 2008 under Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He has remained a member of the Folketing since 1994, in the November 2007 parliamentary election he was elected from the Funen greater constituency and he left the post of Minister for Nordic Cooperation on 18 June 2002, but remained Minister for Economic and Business Affairs. He retained the latter post in the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen II and III, on 9 September 2008, he tendered his resignation as leader of the party, which then elected Lene Espersen as leader, also resigning from his post as minister. Bendt Bendtsen was elected to the European Parliament in the 2009 elections and he is a Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, substitute in the Budgets Committee and substitute in the Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis. In the Parliament he is part of the European Peoples Party which is the biggest political grouping the parliament, currently, he holds the position of First Vice-President. History of the Conservative Peoples Party - From their official webpage, Bendt Bendtsens homepage English part of Bendt Bendtsens homepage Bendt Bendtsens page on the European Parliament website
