Marc Tarabella (2)

Born in Ougrée (Province of Liège) in 1963, Marc Tarabella grew up in a small farm nearby Anthisnes. His father was a quarryman emigrated from Tuscany and his mother worked in the family farm. He contributed to the setting up of the movement of the socialist students while studying sociology at the University of Liège. After he obtained his Bachelor Degree in 1986, he successively worked in the Ministerial cabinets of Guy Coëme (1988) and Bernard Anselme (1988-1990). He, then, started working in a banking institution where he became very involved as union member. Anthisnes: He became town counsellor in the socialist opposition in 1988. Six years later, he is elected Mayor of Anthisnes and has since been re-elected three times. From 2003 to 2007, he held the function of president of the Wallonia Rural Foundation. Member of the European Parliament (MEP): Elected for the first time in 2004, he became member of the Agriculture committee (AGRI) and the Internal market and consumer protection committee (IMCO). He left his function as MEP in 2007 when appointed Walloon Regional Minister of Formation, Education, Youth and Social Promotion. He is re-elected as MEP in 2009. Additionally to the committees he was sitting in during his first mandate, Marc Tarabella became one of the few men to become part of the Women’s right and gender equality committee. In 2010 and 2015, a large majority of MEPs voted in favour of his reports on gender equality in the European Union emphasising the need to facilitate the access to contraception and abortion. He was rapporteur for the successful public procurement directive in 2011. His major fights are, among others: Gender equality, consumer protection (food labelling, net neutrality, suppression of roaming charges, protection of personal data), the defence of farmer’s rights. Since September 2014, he is also the co-President of the Sport Intergroup of the European Parliament in which issues like corruption, doping, attribution criteria of sport events are dealt with in the presence of major actors of the sport sector.

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