Judith Sargentini

Judith Sargentini (born 13 March 1974) is a former Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

She is a member of the GreenLeft (GroenLinks) party, which is part of The Greens–European Free Alliance, and the European Green Party.

Previously, she was chair of the party's delegation in Amsterdam's city council.

Of distant Italian descent from Bozzano, Province of Lucca, Tuscany, on her paternal side, 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.

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.

She was secretary of the Dutch Student Union (between 1995 and 1996) and board member of the European Students' Union (in 1998).

In 1999 she received an MA of history at the University of Amsterdam (specialising in totalitarian systems and the democratisation of Europe).

Between 1999 and 2002, she sat as a co-opted assistant on the municipal council.

Between 2000 and 2001, she was international coordinator of the European Network for Information and 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.

In 2002, Sargentini was elected into the Amsterdam municipal council.

Between 2003 and 2007, she worked as lobbyist at the Dutch Institute for South Africa.

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.

Since 2007, she worked as consultant for the European alliance of development-cooperation organisations Eurostep.

In 2009, Sargentini was one of the candidates for the position of lead candidate on the list of GroenLinks for the 2009 European Parliament elections.

While a candidate for the position, Sargentini emphasised issues such as development cooperation, migration, climate change and emancipation.

On 8 February 2009, it was announced that she was elected as lead candidate and party foreperson for GroenLinks in the Netherlands European Parliament elections.

After five rounds of vote counting, she was elected with 52.4% of the tally.

In 2009, she urged the international community to start negotiations with the Palestinian Hamas and condemned Israel for its "disproportionate use of power".

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.

From 2014 until 2019, Sargentini was a member of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), which oversees the Parliament's election observation missions.

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

In 2015, she visited Israel and Palestine, characterising Israel with the word apartheid.

In 2015 she said that claiming that Islamic State warriors are coming into Europe with refugees is hysteria.

In a video her efforts were praised by the Hamas.

She herself and the political stance of her party was criticised by the chief rabbi of the Netherlands in a demonstration outside of the office of the Green party in Utrecht.

Binyomin Jacobs claimed that Sargentini's opinion encouraged antisemitism.

Sargentini became a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs of the European Parliament, as well as a substitute for the Committee on Development.

In addition to her committee assignments, Sargentini 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 the European parliament, Sargentini serves as rapporteur on conflict minerals.

In 2017, she was appointed by the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs as the rapporteur to examine triggering Article 7 proceedings against Hungary alleging breaches of "core EU values".

In 2018 she accused Israel of war crimes for forcibly deporting the Palestinians.

On 12 September 2018 the European Parliament adopted a resolution based on her report to trigger Article 7.