Beatriz Becerra
Beatriz Becerra
Member of the European Parliament
In office
25 May 2014 – 2019
Personal details
Born
Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea

(1966-11-14) 14 November 1966
Madrid, Spain
Political party
Alma materComplutense University of Madrid
OccupationPolitician
Businesswoman
Teacher
Writer
Websitebeatrizbecerra.eu

Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea (born 14 November 1966) is a Spanish writer and politician[1] who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2014 until 2019.

In parliament, Becerra served as vice-chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights,[2] and is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE).[1][3]

From 2009 to 2014 Becerra was on the Board of Directors of Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) as its Communication Manager. She was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2014 after joining the UPyD list.[4]

Biography

Beatriz Becerra graduated in Industrial Psychology from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1989. She has also completed a Master's in Business Administration and Management.

From 1989 to 2005 she worked in the audiovisual sector at multinationals such as CBS (where she got her first job) and Buena Vista International Spain (owned by The Walt Disney Company). From 1998 to 2005 she worked at Sony Pictures Entertainment, where she became Director of Marketing and Sales for Spain and Portugal. She also worked for the NGO Action Against Hunger and as a consultant for Discovery Networks.[5]

In addition, she developed a teaching career in postgraduate studies between 1998 and 2014 at the Villanueva University Center and Comillas Pontifical University. As a writer, she has published three novels: Las criadas de Caifás,[6] La reina del Plata,[7] and La estirpe de los niños infelices.[8]

Without prior political affiliation, in 2008 Becerra joined Union, Progress and Democracy, a Spanish political party founded in 2007 and whose leader was then Rosa Díez. At the UPyD Congress held in 2009 she was elected to the main executive body, the Board of Directors, to be part of the candidacy headed by Díez. For the next four and a half years, she was responsible for the party's communications.

Becerra stood for the European Parliament elections of 25 May 2014 on the UPyD list.[4] She was elected when her party received 6.5% of the votes and four seats.[9] UPyD joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group, chaired by Belgian Guy Verhofstadt.

During the months following the elections, UPyD suffered a series of internal and electoral crises that ended with the withdrawal of Rosa Díez and her party from the Congress of Deputies and leaving it with hardly any relevant public offices. On 1 April 2016, Becerra announced, along with other UPyD members and officeholders, that she was leaving the party because "it had ceased to be useful to society."[10] She continues as an independent MEP within ALDE.

Activity in the European Parliament

After becoming a Member of the European Parliament, Beatriz Becerra joined the Committees on Employment and Social Affairs, Women's Rights and Gender Equality, and Petitions. In November 2014 she left the first of these and joined the Development Committee and the Human Rights subcommittee, of which she is vice-chair. In addition, she is part of the delegations of the European Parliament in the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee. She is also a substitute in the Delegation for Relations with Japan.[1]

Her parliamentary activity has focused, among other issues, on the defense of human rights, gender equality, economic and social development, access to medicines, and support for entrepreneurs and startups. In 2016, she presented the candidacy of Yazidi activist Nadia Murad Basee to ALDE for the Sakharov Prize for freedom of conscience. ALDE supported this candidacy, and on 27 October of the same year it was announced that the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize to Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar, also a Yazidi activist.

In September 2016, Becerra presented the Alliance of Women Against Radicalization and Extremism (AWARE) platform,[11] a network oriented to the study and prevention of radicalization from a gender perspective, and which defends the creation of a common European policy on respect. The platform has the support of women such as Nadia Murad and Miriam González Durántez.

She has been a speaker in the European Parliament's report on mental health and gender equality, which raised the need to incorporate a gender perspective in research and treatment of diseases.

In international politics, she has stood out for her support to the Venezuelan opposition in its confrontation with the government of Nicolás Maduro,[12] leading ALDE's negotiation on a resolution of the European Parliament that demanded, among other measures, the release of political prisoners.[13]

In 2017, after several months of protests in Venezuela, Becerra promoted the candidacy of the Venezuelan political opposition for the Sakharov Prize.[14] Becerra has been singled out and intimidated by members of the Venezuelan government for her persistent defense of the freedom of Venezuelans.[15] In June 2018, she vsisted Cúcuta, a border city between Colombia and Venezuela, as part of a parliamentary mission to observe the situation of Venezuelan refugees arriving there.[16][17]

She joined the task force of MEPs on Brexit, with a special focus on guaranteeing the rights of Europeans residing in the United Kingdom, and of British residents of the EU after the referendum that approved the abandonment of the European institutions.[18]

On 7 July 2017, in response to a letter from the MEP,[19] European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker confirmed that, if the secession of Catalonia were to take place, the new state would automatically be excluded from the European Union. In September, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, also replied to Becerra stating that, "any action against the Constitution of a Member State is an action against the legal framework of the European Union."[20]

In July 2018, Becerra announced the publication of her book Eres liberal y no lo sabes (You are Liberal and You Don't Know It), scheduled for September of that year, which she described as "a manifesto for an inclusive liberalism, free of dogmatism and modernity."[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea". ALDE. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  2. ↑ "Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA | Home | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  3. ↑ "Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea" (in Spanish). European Parliament. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Acuerdo de 11 de junio de 2014, de la Junta Electoral Central, por el que se procede a la proclamación de Diputados electos al Parlamento Europeo en las elecciones celebradas el 25 de mayo de 2014" [Agreement of 11 June 2014 of the Central Electoral Board, leading to the proclamation of representatives elected to the European Parliament in the elections of 25 May 2014] (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish) (142): 44717–44718. 12 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea - Conference". Conference. 2 September 2017. Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  6. ↑ Las criadas de Caifás (in Spanish). Casa del Libro. ISBN 978-84-155-5131-7.
  7. ↑ La reina del Plata (in Spanish). Casa del Libro. ISBN 978-84-155-5190-4.
  8. ↑ La estirpe de los niños infelices (in Spanish). Casa del Libro. February 2014. ISBN 978-84-156-1471-5.
  9. ↑ "Europeas. Upyd celebra los 4 escaños conseguidos en el parlamento europeo" [Europe. UPyD Celebrates 4 Seats Won in the European Parliament]. La Información (in Spanish). 26 May 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  10. ↑ "La eurodiputada Beatriz Becerra abandona UPyD" [The MEP Beatriz Becerra Abandons UPyD]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid. EFE. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  11. ↑ "Aware, una plataforma que impulsa el papel de las mujeres contra el yihadismo" [Aware, a Platform that Drives the Role of Women Against Jihadism]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Madrid. EFE. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  12. ↑ "La eurodiputada que cruje al chavismo y alerta a Europa de la tendencia dictatorial" [The MEP Who Rattles Chavismo and Alerts Europe to the Dictaorial Trend]. La Patilla (in Spanish). 13 April 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  13. ↑ Suanzes, Pablo R. (8 June 2016). "El Parlamento Europeo pide a Venezuela que libere a los 'presos políticos'" [The European Parliament Asks Venezuela to Release the 'Political Prisoners']. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  14. ↑ "La oposición democrática de Venezuela, premio Sájarov 2017" [The Democratic Opposition of Venezuela, Sakharov Prize 2017] (in Spanish). European Parliament. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  15. ↑ "La eurodiputada señalada públicamente por el régimen de Maduro" [The MEP Singled Out Publicly By the Maduro Regime]. El Confidente (in Spanish). 1 June 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  16. ↑ "Eurodiputados instan a la UE a apoyar a Colombia ante afluencia de venezolanos" [MEPs Urge the EU to Support Colombia Before an Influx of Venezuelans] (in Spanish). European Parliament. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  17. ↑ "EU lawmakers issue call to take in Venezuelan migrants". DW. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  18. ↑ Boffey, Daniel; O'Carroll, Lisa (23 October 2017). "UK plan to register EU citizens would be illegal, say MEPs". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  19. ↑ Tejero Martín, María (14 July 2017). "Juncker: Si Cataluña se independiza de España, tendrá consecuencias" [Juncker: If Catalonia Becomes Independent from Spain, it Will Have Consequences]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Brussels. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  20. ↑ "Tajani: 'cualquier acción contra la Constitución es contra el marco legal UE'" [Tajani: 'Any Action Against the Constitution is Against the EU Legal Framework']. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Brussels. EFE. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  21. ↑ @beatrizbecerrab (July 13, 2018). "Tengo el placer de anunciaros que en el próximo mes de septiembre saldrá a la venta #EresLiberalYNoLoSabes, mi libro sobre el #liberalismo de hoy, editado por @EdicionesDeusto" [I have the pleasure to announce that in the next month of September, my book about #liberalism today, #EresLiberalYNoLoSabes, will go on sale, published by @EdicionesDeusto.] (Tweet). Retrieved 24 September 2021 – via Twitter.
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