Judith Sargentini

Biography

Sargentini describes her family as being "politically very aware". 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. After graduating, she studied history at the University of Amsterdam. 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.

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.

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 an 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. Between 2009 and 2013, she chaired the GreenLeft delegation. In addition to her committee assignments, she is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights. She is also a vice-chairwoman of the cross-party working groups on fair trade (sponsored by Fair Trade Advocacy), as well as on innovation, access to medicines, and poverty-related diseases (sponsored by Médecins Sans Frontières).

In parliament, Sargentini serves as rapporteur on conflict minerals. 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.

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

Other activities