Inés Ayala Sender (28 March 1957 – 25 July 2024) was a Spanish politician who served as 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 ...

(MEP) from 2004 until 2019 for the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

, which is affiliated to the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

. She was first elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, and was re-elected in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. She was also member of the City Council of

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

between 2019 and 2023. From January 2021 Mrs Ayala Sender held the position as the European Coordinator for the

TEN-T The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is a planned network of roads, railways, airports and water infrastructure in the European Union. The TEN-T network is part of a wider system of Trans-European Networks (TENs), including a telecommun ...

Rhine–Danube corridor The Rhine–Danube Corridor (previously known as Seine–Danube Corridor and Strassburg–Danube Corridor) is the ninth of the ten priority axes of the Trans-European Transport Network. Description The Strasbourg–Danube Corridor develops its ...

Early career

Ayala Sender served as national expert in the

Directorate-General for the Environment Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission, responsible for the Environmental policy of the European Union. In 2010 "relevant limate changeactivities in DG Environment" were moved to the n ...

of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

from 1995 to 1997. Between 1997 and 2004, she worked as policy adviser to the PES Group for various committees and delegations of the European Parliament, including the

Committee on Transport and Tourism A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

Member of the European Parliament (2004–2019)

Ayala Sender first became a

in the 2004 European elections. Throughout her time in parliament, she served on the

Committee on Budgetary Control The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesi ...

and on the

. On the Committee on Budgetary Control, she was the coordinator of the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the Political groups of the European Parliament, political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and ...

. In 2007, she joined the parliament's delegation for relations with the countries of Central America. Between 2005 and 2009, she was a member of the

Committee on Petitions The Committee on Petitions (PETI) is a permanent committee of the European Parliament to offer a petition process including a web portal to create and admit petitions. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Dolors Montserrat, member of the ...

. On the Committee on Budgetary Control, Ayala Sender served as her parliamentary group's coordinator from 2014 until 2019. She was also a member of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), which oversees the Parliament's election observation missions. In addition to her committee assignments, Ayala Sender was also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime).

Other activities

European Transport Safety Council The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) is a non-profit organisation that works to reduce the number of deaths and injuries in traffic collisions that occur in Europe. It publishes an annual ''Road Safety Performance Index Report'', measuring ...

, Observer * Globe EU, Member *

Rail Forum Europe Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

, Member *

SmartMove Corel Linux, also called Corel LinuxOS, was a Debian-based operating system made by Corel that began beta testing on September 21, 1999 and was released to the public on November 15, 1999. It mainly competed against Windows 98 and Windows 2000 by M ...

High Level Group (HLG), Member

Death

Ayala died on 25 July 2024, at the age of 67.Muere Inés Ayala Sender, exdiputada socialista aragonesa

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Ines 1957 births 2024 deaths Spanish Socialist Workers' Party MEPs MEPs for Spain 2004–2009 MEPs for Spain 2009–2014 MEPs for Spain 2014–2019 21st-century women MEPs for Spain Politicians from Zaragoza Spanish people of Basque descent