Edite de Fátima Santos Marreiros Estrela, GCIH (born 28 October 1949) is a Portuguese politician of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. She is currently the First Vice-President of the Assembly of the Republic. Estrela was previously a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

from 2004 until 2014. She was also the Mayor of

Sintra Sintra (, ), officially the Town of Sintra (), is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2021 was 385,654, in an area of . Sintra is one of the ...

between 1993 and 2001 and a teacher of literature.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2014

During her time in the European Parliament, Estrela was a member of the

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) is a committee of the European Parliament. Membership Chair 9th Term Vice Chairs * Eugenia Rodríguez Palop * Sylwia Spurek * Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi * Radka Maxova 7th Term ...

and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. From 2009 until 2010, Estrela served as the parliament's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on draft legislation on

parental leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...

. In 2013, she wrote a controversial parliamentary report on

sexual and reproductive health and rights Sexual and reproductive health and rights or ''SRHR'' is the concept of human rights applied to sexuality and Human reproduction, reproduction. It is the recognition of every person’s right to make fully informed and self-determined decisions ...

, which was narrowly rejected in the European Parliament. In addition to her committee assignments, Estrela was part of the parliament's delegation for relations with the

Mercosur The Southern Common Market (commonly known by abbreviation ''Mercosur'' in Spanish and ''Mercosul'' in Portuguese) is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full me ...

countries (2009–2014), to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (2007–2014) and for relations with the countries of

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

(2007–2009).

Member of the Parliament of Portugal, 2015–present

In addition to her role in parliament, Estrela has been serving as a member of the Portuguese delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

since 2016. As a member of the Socialist Party, she is part of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group. On the Assembly, Estrela serves on the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by

Member States of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being th ...

(since 2021); the Sub-Committee on Public Health and Sustainable Development (since 2020); the Sub-Committee on Gender Equality (since 2019); the Sub-Committee on the Rights of Minorities (since 2019); the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development (since 2018); the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination (since 2018); and the Sub-Committee on Children (since 2018). She is also the Assembly's rapporteur on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and equal access to digital technologies. Since 2022, she has been one of the Assembly's vice-presidents, under the leadership of president

Tiny Kox Martinus Josephus Maria "Tiny" Kox (; born 6 May 1953) is a Dutch politician who served as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2022 until 2024. As a member of the Socialist Party (SP), he became a senator on 10 Ju ...

.PACE elects two new Vice-Presidents

(PACE), press release of 20 June 2022.

References