Esther M. R. de Lange (; born 19 February 1975) is a Dutch politician 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 ...

since 2007. A member of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

(CDA), part of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

(EPP), she was elected as delegation leader in 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 ...

at a party conference on 2 November 2013 in

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

, a position she assumed the following year. In July 2014 she was elected as Vice President of the

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 MEPs ...

in the European Parliament and in June 2018 as Vice President of the EPP Party.

Political career

After having been voted

in the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

, De Lange was elected one of the vice presidents of the

in the European Parliament, responsible for the relations with national legislatures. During the 8th parliamentary term De Lange was a member of the

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

(ECON), and of the Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy (ITRE). In the current parliamentary term, De Lange is a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety (ENVI) and of the

(ECON). She later also joined the Parliament's delegation to the

Conference on the Future of Europe The Conference on the Future of Europe was a proposal of the European Commission and the European Parliament, announced at the end of 2019, with the aim of looking at the medium to long term future of the EU and what reforms should be made to i ...

(2021) and the Special Committee on 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 ...

(2022). Previously, she was a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety (ENVI); the

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

(AGRI); and the

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

(BUDG). Besides that, De Lange was a member of the delegation for relations with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and was Vice-Chair of the Delegation for the relations with

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. In addition to her committee assignments, De Lange is also member of the delegations for the EU relations with the United States and Russia. She chairs the MEP Water Group. and is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup Intergroups are formed of Members of the European Parliament from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects ...

and the

MEPs Against Cancer MEPs Against Cancer is a group of 130 Members 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 Parlia ...

group. In her parliamentary work, De Lange mostly focused on agriculture, food safety, and sustainability. Under the 2009-2014 mandate, she has been actively involved in the revision of the

Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the ...

(CAP). De Lange has been acting as

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 Euro ...

on the dossier of food labeling and nutrition for special (medical) use in the European Parliament. In 2013, De Lange acted as the European Parliament's

on the issue of food fraud in the EU. Following the 2019 elections, De Lange was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's five-year work program on economic and fiscal policies as well as trade. De Lange received a total of 402.975 preferential votes during the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

. Within the centre-right

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 ...

(EPP) group, De Lange is one of the deputies of chairman

Manfred Weber Manfred Weber (born 14 July 1972) is a German politician who has served as President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2022 and as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European Parl ...

. In her capacity as vice-chair of the EPP Group she heads the working group on Economy and Environment.

Political positions

De Lange has been outspoken critic of right-wing populist movements in the EU. For example, she has repeatedly and publicly indicated frustration at Hungary's

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán. It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young ...

party, which is part of the EPP. De Lange also criticizes the lack in understanding for the situation of parents in the European Parliament. Members of European Parliament cannot take parental leave, cannot have themselves replaced if they are pregnant or gave birth and are automatically recorded as absent. De Lange took her son to then-President of the Parliament

Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he served as Pre ...

when she returned to the

as an explanation for her absence.

Personal

De Lange has a son and commutes between the village of Driebruggen and Brussels.Peter van den Belt (May 21, 2019)

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Political career

Political positions

Personal

References

External links