Adina-Ioana Vălean (born 16 February 1968 in

Băicoi Băicoi () is a town in Prahova County, Romania, near the 45th parallel. Five localities are administered by the town: Dâmbu, Liliești, Schela, Tufeni, and Țintea. Over time, these have become neighborhoods of the town.Prahova County Prahova County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/km². It is Romania's third mos ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

) is a

n politician who has been serving as

European Commissioner for Transport The European Commissioner for Transport is a member of the European Commission whose portfolio includes the planning and development of homogeneous transport policies and regulations across the Union, of the Trans-European Transport Network as we ...

under the leadership of President of the European Commission

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

since 2019. She previously served as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from 2007 until 2019, where she chaired of the

European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

in 2019.

Education

Vălean has a master's degree in European Integration and Security Studies, postgraduate studies in National Security and Defence Management and a bachelor's degree in mathematics.

Political career

Career in national politics

A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), and a member of the European Peoples Party, Vălean was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

on the Justice and Truth list for

Călărași County Călărași () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in Muntenia, with the county seat at Călărași. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 285,050 and a population density of 56.02/km2. * Romanians – 95% ...

(during the 2004 elections).

Member of the European Parliament, 2007–2019

Vălean became a

on 1 January 2007, with the

accession of Romania to the European Union On 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became member states of the European Union (EU) in the fifth wave of EU enlargement. Negotiations Romania was the first country of post-communist Europe to have official relations with the European Comm ...

. Throughout her time in parliament, she served on the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

; in 2019, she became the committee's chairwoman. During her time on the committee, she was 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 ...

for the

Connecting Europe Facility The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a European Union fund established in 2014 for infrastructure investments (in particular the Trans-European Networks) across the union in transport, energy, digital and telecommunication projects, which aims a ...

(CEF) and the European Union roaming regulations. From 2014 to 2017, Vălean was one of the

Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Role Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau and chair the plenary when the president is not i ...

under the leadership of President Antonio Tajani; in that capacity, she was in charge of

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, ...

(ICT). She also chaired the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety from 2017 until 2019 and served on 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 ...

from 2009 until 2014. In addition to her committee assignments, Vălean was part of the Parliaments delegations with the countries of

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...

(2007–2009); the

Euronest Parliamentary Assembly The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the inter-parliamentary forum in which members of the European Parliament and the national parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia participate and forge closer political and economic ...

(2009–2014); and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(since 2014). She was also a member of the

Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue Taking the existing interparliamentary relationship as its basis, the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue (TLD) aims to strengthen and enhance the level of political discourse between European and American legislators. It does so against the backgr ...

(TLD); the European Internet Forum; and the European Parliament Intergroup on Long Term Investment and Reindustrialisation.

European Commissioner for Transport, 2019–present

In November 2019, the center-right government under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Ludovic Orban Ludovic Orban (; born 25 May 1963) is a Romanian engineer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from November 2019 to December 2020. He was president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL) betw ...

put Vălean and

Siegfried Mureșan Siegfried Mureșan (born 20 September 1981) is a Romanian economist and politician, vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP) since November 2019, vice-president of the European People's Party Group (EPP Group) in the European Parliamen ...

forward as candidates to be the country's next

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

. Vălean was subsequently picked to be the

by President of the European Commission

. In early March 2020, Vălean was appointed by von der Leyen to serve on the commission's special task force to coordinate the European Union's response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Personal life

Vălean is married to

Crin Antonescu George Crin Laurențiu Antonescu (; born 21 September 1959) is a Romanian politician, who was President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) from 2009 to 2014. He also served as the country Acting President after the impeachment of Traian Băsesc ...

and has one child.Adina-Ioana Vălean

EPP Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

References

Profile at the Chamber of Deputies site

External links

Adina Vălean MEP
official site
European Parliament profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valean, Adina 1968 births Living people MEPs for Romania 2007 MEPs for Romania 2007–2009 MEPs for Romania 2009–2014 MEPs for Romania 2014–2019 MEPs for Romania 2019–2024 National Liberal Party (Romania) MEPs National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians People from Prahova County Romanian activists Romanian European Commissioners Romanian schoolteachers Romanian women activists Spouses of politicians University of Bucharest alumni Women European Commissioners Women MEPs for Romania 21st-century Romanian politicians European Commissioners 2019–2024