Irena Joveva (born 26 February 1989) is a Slovenian politician and a former news reporter. She was elected 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 ...

and is part of the Slovenian political party Freedom Movement, affiliated with 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 ...

political group on the European level. She previously worked in the domestic political editorial team of the

Slovenian Press Agency Slovenian Press Agency ( sl, Slovenska tiskovna agencija) (STA), established in 1991, is a national press agency covering domestic and international events. It was established and is owned by the Republic of Slovenia. STA news services (the Gen ...

(STA) and as a journalist on the 24UR news program on POP TV.

Upbringing and Education

She grew up in a working-class family in Jesenice. Her parents moved to Slovenia more than a decade before her birth as economic migrants from (now North) Macedonia, then Yugoslavia. After completing her secondary economics school in Radovljica, she continued her studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana. She graduated in International Relations and completed her master's degree in World Studies in 2017, focusing on the European Union's approach to the Macedonian national issue.

Journalism

She was employed in the domestic political editorial team of the Slovenian Press Agency. Her coverage included domestic politics and the public sector. In 2014, she received the Watchdog Award from the Slovene Association of Journalists for Debutant of the Year. From 2015 until her candidacy for the European Parliament in 2019, she worked as a journalist for daily news "24UR" on POP TV. Her reporting focused on domestic politics, foreign affairs, European topics, migration, arbitration, and protests across Europe.

Political career

On March 4, 2019,

List of Marjan Šarec The List of Marjan Šarec ( Slovene: ''Lista Marjana Šarca'', LMŠ) was a political party in Slovenia led by former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec. It merged into the Freedom Movement in the aftermath of the 2022 elections. History Marjan Šare ...

(LMŠ) announced that Joveva would lead the list’s ticket in the upcoming European Parliament elections. She was elected with the second-highest number of preferential votes (42,190) and became a Member of the European Parliament. Alongside her, Klemen Grošelj was also elected from the LMŠ party. Upon her election, she among other things promised transparent operation by publicly disclosing meetings with lobbyists and the use of her office's funds. She is a member of the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL). Additionally, she is a substitute member in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), where she holds the position of Vice-Chair within the Subcommittee on Public Health (SANT) since March 2023. She was also involved in the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA), which prepared a European strategy to fight cancer. In addition to committee work, she is active in delegations responsible for inter-parliamentary relations. She is a member of the delegations for North Macedonia, Palestine, Central Asian, African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. She is also a member of the European Parliament groups: Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, the European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas 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.MAC MEPs in the 2019-24 legislature

References

1989 births Living people MEPs for Slovenia 2019–2024 Women MEPs for Slovenia Slovenian people of Macedonian descent MEPs for Slovenia 2024–2029 {{Italy-MEP-stub