Jean Marie Cavada

Early life

Cavada was born on 24 February 1940 in Épinal, Lorraine, to Spanish parents who disappeared during World War II. He was raised by five different foster parents. His grandson is named Robin after Yitzhak Rabin, the assassinated Israeli prime minister.

Career

Cavada was a member of the former Union for French Democracy, which was part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and as a deputy for the south-west of France, he chairs the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, a substitute for the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and a member of the delegation to the EU–Romania Joint Parliamentary Committee, from 2004 to 2009.

After the creation of the MoDem as a replacement of the Union for French Democracy, he created his own party Civic Alliance for Democracy in Europe. For the 2009 European Parliament election, he was the third member of the list of the presidential majority (UMP/NC/LGM), under the New Centre label. He is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group.

In 2015 Cavada introduced a proposal to restrict the freedom of panorama in all EU countries indicating that this would limit the impact of "American monopolies such as Facebook and also Wikimedia" and serve to protect "a sector of European culture and creativity". The proposal was rejected by the European Parliament.