Sofia Heleno Santos Roque Ribeiro (born 17 July 1976) is a Portuguese teacher and politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(PSD) who 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 2014 to 2019.

Early career

Ribeiro graduated from the

University of the Azores The University of the Azores (Portuguese: ''Universidade dos Açores''), or commonly abbreviated as ''UAc'', is the only public university in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. It was founded on January 9, 1976, two years after the Carnation Rev ...

with a degree in mathematics in 2000, followed by a postgraduate degree in school administration in 2008. Since 2000, she has worked as a math teacher in the Azores. She was involved in the teachers' union of the Azores (Sindicato Democrático dos Professores dos Açores), from 2005 she gave up all her teaching activities for the union. From 2010 to February 2014, she chaired the union, at the same time she was also deputy chairman of the UGT trade union federation for the Azores.

Member of the European Parliament

For 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 ...

, the

nominated Ribeiro to third place on the list. The electoral alliance

Portugal Alliance The Portugal Ahead ( pt, Portugal à Frente, PàF) was a conservative political and electoral alliance in Portugal formed by the Social Democratic Party (PPD/PSD) and CDS – People's Party (CDS-PP). History The alliance was formed as the Port ...

achieved 27.71% and thus seven places on the list. Sofia Ribeiro was next to Ricardo Serrão Santos as representative of the Azores 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 ...

. The nomination of an Azorean for such a good place on the list - and thus a practically guaranteed choice - was received with surprise.

References

External links

* 1976 births Living people People from Ponta Delgada MEPs for Portugal 2014–2019 Social Democratic Party (Portugal) MEPs 21st-century women MEPs for Portugal {{Portugal-MEP-stub