Cristina García-Orcoyen Tormo (born 2 January 1948) is a Spanish People's Party politician and environmentalist who served a single term 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) in 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 ...

between 1999 and 2004. She was the general secretary of the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

in Spain () from 1983 to 1996 and was made head of the private non-profit Environment Foundation in 1996. Tormo worked on several directives and community initiatives relating to the environment, industrial and foreign policy when she was an elected member of the European Parliament.

Biography

Tormo was born in Madrid, Spain on 2 January 1948. She obtained a degree in Political and Economic Sciences from the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

and has an MBA in Business Management and Business Administration from Madrid's

IESE Business School IESE Business School is the Catholic Church, Catholic graduate business school of the University of Navarra. It was established in Barcelona in 1958 by Opus Dei. From 1963, in collaboration with Harvard Business School, it offers a two-year Maste ...

. Tormo also graduated from the EOI Business School in Madrid with a diploma in Foreign Trade. Between 1983 and 1996, she was the general secretary of the

in Spain (). During this period, Tormo came to notice environmental awareness in Spain, working to conserve the natural environment especially in areas of such as biodiversity and conserving ecosystems. She was a representative of the association in the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

, the Committee for Latin America of the World Wide Fund for Nature, the General Assembly of the World Fund for Conservation of Nature and Spain's National Environment Council. She was a member of the European Consultative Forum on the Environment from 1992 to 1995 and its vice-chair between 1992 and 1994. Tormo was elected to the position of vice-president of the European Union Environment Advisory Council in either 1993 or 1994 and retained the role until 1996. In 1996, Tormo became the head of the private non-profit Environment Foundation that promotes integration of the management of its environmental aspects such as sustainable development into Spanish business strategies. From 1996 to 1999, she was a member of the board of both Ence and the INITEC. Tormo promoted the foundation of the Spanish Committee of the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

in 1996, and in 1998, became a member of the Environment and Industry Programme at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

as well as the Scientific Council of Sustainability of the United Kingdom. She received the 1999 National Environment Award in the "Lucas Mallada of Economy and Environment" category from the Ministry of Environment. At the

1999 European Parliament election in Spain The 1999 European Parliament election in Spain was held on Sunday, 13 June 1999, as part of the 1999 European Parliament election, EU-wide election to elect the Fifth European Parliament, 5th European Parliament. All 64 seats allocated to Spain ...

, Tormo was elected to the

to serve the

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

as a member of the People's Party serving in the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, taking up her seat on 20 July 1999. While in the European Parliament, she worked on several directives and community initiatives relating to the environment, industrial and foreign policy. Tormo was a participant in the weekly radio programme ''Un mundo con dos voces'' in which there was analysis and debate of current political and social concerns with someone in public life in Catalonia. She was on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, the Delegation for relations with the countries of South-east Europe, the Delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Delegation to the European Economic Area Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Temporary committee on improving safety at sea. Tormo was a substitute for the Committee on Development and Cooperation, the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities, the Delegation to the EU-Hungary Joint Parliamentary Committee, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, the Temporary committee on foot and mouth disease, the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy and the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. She got the Best Environmental Initiative Award from Garrigues & Andersen in 2001, and received the Award for the best Professional Career in Defense of the Environment from the National Environment Congress in 2002. Tormo later earned the Parliamentary Proceedings Award "for the best European initiative for Environmental Protection and reduction of emissions into the atmosphere" in December 2003, and the Prize for the best parliamentary career of the year in the area of the Environment from the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

in 2004. She left the European Parliament on 19 July 2004, and has been a Member of the Advisory Council on Sustainable Development of Garrigues & Andersen since 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tormo, Cristina García-Orcoyen 1948 births Living people Complutense University of Madrid alumni Politicians from Madrid 20th-century Spanish women politicians 21st-century Spanish women politicians 20th-century women MEPs for Spain 21st-century women MEPs for Spain MEPs for Spain 1999–2004 People's Party (Spain) politicians People's Party (Spain) MEPs Spanish women environmentalists