Dominique Riquet (born 18 September 1946 in

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

) is a French

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

and politician of the Radical Party who has been serving 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 ...

(MEP) since the 2009 European election, representing the

North-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

constituency. From 2002 until 2012, he was also the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Political career

In 2009, the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Social ...

(UMP) selected him to lead the party's list in the

constituency ahead of the 2009 European elections. His list won 24.22% and he was easily elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the 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 adopts ...

. In his first parliamentary term from 2009 until 2014, Riquet was a member of the

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

. Following the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

, he moved to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group; from 2017 until 2019, he was one of the group's vice-chairs under the leadership of chairman

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who was the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, and has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium ...

. Riquet has been serving on the

Committee on Transport and Tourism The Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair is the French MEP Karima Delli of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. Research service The Committee is directly supported by ...

since 2012; in this capacity, he notably co-led the negotiations on 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) for the Parliament. From 2009 until 2014, he was also a member of the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.Volkswagen emissions scandal The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...

. Since the 2019 elections, Riquet has been serving as one of eight vice chairs of the

Renew Europe Renew Europe (Renew) is a liberal, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group which exist ...

group, under the leadership of chairman

Dacian Cioloș Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Agriculture Minister under Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu between October 2007 and ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, Riquet chairs the European Parliament Intergroup on Long Term Investment and Reindustrialisation and is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, and the

MEPs Against Cancer MEPs Against Cancer is a group of 130 Members of the European Parliament who aim to "promote action on cancer as an EU priority and harness European health policy to that end" and to encourage every country to develop a national plan for combati ...

group.

Political positions

In a joint letter with 15 other MEPs from various political groups, Riquet urged the

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European Union (EU). The position is currently held ...

Josep Borrell Josep Borrell Fontelles (; born 24 April 1947) is a Spanish politician serving as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy since 1 December 2019. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served ...

in early 2021 to replace the European Union's ambassador to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

for allegedly siding with the country's Communist leadership.Hans von der Burchard (February 25, 2021)
MEPs urge EU to fire ambassador to Cuba
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''.

References

1946 births Living people People from Valenciennes Radical Party (France) politicians MEPs for North-West France 2009–2014 MEPs for North-West France 2014–2019 MEPs for France 2019–2024 Radical Party (France) MEPs Mayors of places in Hauts-de-France Union for a Popular Movement politicians Union of Democrats and Independents politicians French surgeons {{France-MEP-stub