Samira Rafaela | |
|---|---|
 Rafaela in 2019 | |
| Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands | |
| In office 2 July 2019 –15 July 2024 | |
| Parliamentary group | Renew Europe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 February 1989 Zoetermeer,Netherlands |
| Political party | Democrats 66 |
| Alma mater | Leiden University |
Samira Rafaela (born 11 February 1989) is a Dutch politician of Democrats 66. She served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2024, [1] [2] and she was also a member of the Young Democrats. [2]
Rafaela grew up with her Jewish Dutch-Curaçaoan mother in Uitgeest. Her father was of Ghanaian-Nigerian descent and a practicing Muslim. She considers herself a progressive,liberal,feminist Muslim. [3]
She attended Bonhoeffer College in Castricum [4] and studied public administration at Leiden University. She did research on the causes of radicalization and terrorism and obtained a master's degree in Crisis and Security Management. [5] She worked as a policy maker and administrative advisor for the municipality of Amsterdam. In 2016,she transferred to the Police Netherlands,where she acted as project leader for inclusion. [6] As a social entrepreneur,she worked in Africa with young talent and as an international trainer and speaker on women's participation,leadership,security and inclusion.
Samira Rafaela met President Barack Obama in 2019 when she was selected for his Townhall meeting in Berlin with 300 young leaders from Europe. [7]
Samira Rafaela was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the 2019 election,making her the first Dutch MEP with Afro-Caribbean roots. [8] She has been a member of the Committee on International Trade (since 2019),the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (since 2019) [2] and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (since 2021). [9]
In 2019,Rafaela delivered the prestigious Martin Luther King speech at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,where she spoke about the role of activists and politicians in society. [10] Rafaela stated that if politicians want to bring about change,they should adopt a bit of an activist mindset as well. [11]
Rafaela was the Co-Chair of the Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup in the European Parliament. In 2020,she called for a U.S.-EU joint action plan against racism,which included dedicated funding and support for civil society initiatives. [12]
In 2020,Rafaela was named one of the "20 MEPs to Watch in 2020" by Politico,highlighting her as a symbol of a new trade direction within the European Parliament. [13]
In February 2021,Samira Rafaela requested that the European Commission initiate legal proceedings against the government of The Netherlands. She argued that the childcare benefits scandal involved institutional racism,which violated European laws and treaties. [14]
In 2023,Rafaela succeeded in securing a debate in the European Parliament about the childcare benefits scandal. The debate highlighted the need for ethical use of algorithms,using the scandal as an example of the risks associated with AI replacing human decision-making. During the debate,EU Commissioner Helena Dalli committed to monitoring the remediation process for the victims. [15]
In 2024,Samira Rafaela was shortlisted and nominated for the Youth Champion of the Mandate Awards for her work on eliminating inequalities,fostering sustainable trade policies,and promoting an inclusive labour market. [16] In the same year,Samira Rafaela was listed among the Top 100 most politically influential Members of the European Parliament out of 705 members. She was also ranked in the top 20 for Social Policy and top 20 for Trade as the most influential Members throughout the mandate of 2019–2024. [17] Rafaela achieved the best score among Dutch Members of the European Parliament in the mandate of 2019–2024 due to her high performance as a Rapporteur. [18]
Rafaela was the lead negotiator for the EU Pay Transparency directive. [19] She was also the Rapporteur for the Forced Labour Regulation,an EU law that will ban products made from forced labour from the EU single market. [20]
Samira Rafaela served as the Rapporteur for the Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence Directive in the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. [21] Rafaela was also the Rapporteur for the EU-Chile Trade Agreement,which included the first EU Gender and Trade chapter. [22]
In addition,Rafaela worked on a plan of actions to combat anti-rights movements in Europe. She stated that anti-rights movements and the continuous misuse of EU public funds by anti-democratic actors are sometimes linked to foreign interference and are becoming increasingly common in institutions. [23]
Rafaela served as the Renew Europe Rapporteur for the EU Women on Boards Directive,where she introduced a ‘faming list’to give positive recognition to companies promoting gender equality. [24] Rafaela also addressed the issue of the ‘pink tax’,urging the European Commission to amend EU legislation to prevent women and girls from paying more than men for the same products. [25] [26]
In addition to her committee assignments,Rafaela was part of the Parliament's delegations to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) and to the EU–Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee. [2] She also co-chaired the European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup and was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence and Digital [27] and the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability. [28] [29]
On 3 May 2022,an internal commission of D66 investigated complaints of 3 former co-workers of the European D66-delegation about,among other things,abuse of power by Rafaela. [30] She received a warning,but a dispute committee ruled in November of the same year that the investigation was sloppy and that the warning was unjustified. [31] [32]
In 2023,Rafaela –together with Malin Björk and Evin Incir –alleged in a letter to the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola that their fellow MEPs Anders Vistisen,Isabella Adinolfi and Cristian Terheș breached Parliament's rules on offensive language during a debate on the ratification of the 2011 Istanbul convention against gender-based violence and urged Metsola to investigate. [33] On 21 December 2023,she announced she would not seek re-election in the 2024 European Parliament election. [34] Her term ended on 15 July 2024. [2]
In 2023,Rafaela alerted the European Commission to "very worrying practices" by major social media platforms,alleging that these platforms were secretly hiding certain posts and content they deemed incompatible with their own opinions. [35]
Rafaela is now a visiting fellow at Cornell University Global Labor Institute where she works on global labor governance. [36]
Emine Bozkurt is a Dutch politician of Turkish descent and Member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2014. She is a member of the Dutch Labour Party,which is part of the Party of European Socialists.
Sophia Helena "Sophie" in 't Veld is a Dutch politician. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2004,and reelected in 2009,2014 and 2019. She was D66's top candidate for the three elections and was its leader in the European Parliament since her first election.
Bas Eickhout is a Dutch politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since the 2009 elections. He is a member of the GreenLeft,part of the European Green Party.
Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy is a Dutch politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2024. He previously served on the body from 2009 until 2019. He is a member of Democrats 66,part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
Esther M. R. de Lange is a Dutch politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) between 2007 and 2024. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA),part of the European People's Party (EPP),she was elected as delegation leader in the European Parliament at a party conference on 2 November 2013 in Leeuwarden,a position she assumed the following year. In July 2014 she was elected as Vice President of the EPP Group in the European Parliament and in June 2018 as Vice President of the EPP Party. De Lange stepped down as MEP in February 2024.
Maria Renske "Marietje" Schaake is a Dutch politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands between 2009 and 2019. She is a member of Democrats 66,part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party.
Jeroen Lenaers is a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal,part of the European People's Party.
Jan Huitema is a Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands between July 2014 and July 2024. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy,part of Renew Europe.
Kati Piri is a Hungarian-born Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA),she previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats from 2014 until 2021.
Simona Bonafé is an Italian politician and journalist who is serving as a member of the country's Chamber of Deputies.
Younous Omarjee is a French politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 4 January 2012. He sits with the Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left.
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri is a Finnish politician who currently serves as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party,part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. She has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2014.
Evin Incir is a Swedish politician of Kurdish descent for the Swedish Social Democratic Party who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since the 2019 European elections.
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou is a Greek-French gynaecologist and politician who served as Minister of State for Development,Francophonie and International Partnerships in the governments of successive Prime Ministers Élisabeth Borne and Gabriel Attal from 2022 to 2024. A member of La République En Marche! (LREM),she previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2022.
Elisabetta Gualmini is an Italian politician who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2019.
Caroline Nagtegaal is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) who served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2017 and 2024.
Lara Ianthe Wolters is a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019.
Margarida Marques is a Portuguese politician of the Socialist Party who served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2024.
Raoul Marc Boucke is a Surinamese-Dutch civil servant and politician,who has served as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. He is a member of the social liberal party Democrats 66 (D66). Prior to his political career,Boucke worked for two government ministries,the European Commission,as well as the Dutch representation to the European Union.
Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle is a Spanish-Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66),who has served as a Member of the European Parliament since 2024.
 | This article about a Member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |