Ana Gomes

Ana Maria Rosa Martins Gomes GCC GOIH ComM, better known as Ana Gomes, (born 9 February 1954 in Estremoz) is a Portuguese politician, who suspended her career as a diplomat to enter party politics in 2003. From 2004 until 2019, she served as a Member of the European Parliament. (Portuguese Socialist Party member of the European Socialist Party) She is married with one daughter, three stepchildren and six grandchildren.

Ana Gomes is currently a City Council member of Sintra.

She has been a career diplomat since 1980 and served in the Portuguese Missions at the UN in New York and Geneva, and also in the Embassies in Tokyo and London. Between 1999 and 2003, she was Head of Mission and Ambassador in Jakarta, where she played an important role both in the process leading up to the independence of East Timor and in the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Portugal and Indonesia.

In the European Parliament, her main areas of activity were: migration, human rights, security and defence, international relations, gender issues and development. In 2010 she signed the Spinelli Group manifesto supporting a federal Europe.

Gomes faced accusations of antisemitism for inviting anti-Israel speakers to the European Parliament and allegedly referring to Jewish organizations as a "perverse lobby".

Her activism and membership in the migration focused NGO Friends of Europe were commented upon in an interview by the Romanian prime-minister, Viorica Dancila as 'totally uninspired'. Two requests made by the Deputy Attorney General of Portugal in 2014 and 2017 to waive Ana Gomes’ parliamentary immunity with respect to criminal proceedings against her have both been decided against by the European Parliament.

European Parliament

Positions (2009-2014)

• Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights
• Member of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence
• Substitute Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
• Member of the Delegation for relations with Iraq
• Substitute Member of the Delegation for relations with the United States
• Substitute Member of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
• Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (EU)

Positions (2004-2009)

• Vice-chair of the Subcommittee of Security and Defence and PSE Coordinator for Security and Defence issues
• Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Member of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
• Substitute Member of the Development Committee
• Substitute Member of the Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee
• Member of the Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners
• Member of the Ad hoc Delegation for relations with Iraq
• Substitute Member of the Delegation for relations with the United States
• Substitute Member of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
• Member of the Intergroup on Western Sahara
• Member of the Group of Friends European Parliament/East Timor

Missions

As an MEP, Gomes participated in a number of European Parliament missions to Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chad, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Kosovo, Lebanon, Indonesia (including Aceh), Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Sudan (Darfur), Turkey, USA, etc.

Gomes took part in the following Election Observation Missions (EOM):

• Ethiopia (2005) - Head of the EU's EOM
• Democratic Republic of Congo (2006) - Member of the European Parliament's EOM
• East Timor (2007) - Head of the European Parliament's EOM
• Angola (2008) - Member of the European Parliament's EOM

More information

Diplomatic career

• 1980 - Entered the Diplomatic Service through public competition, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon
• 1982-1986 - Diplomatic Advisor of the President of the Republic, General Ramalho Eanes, Lisbon
• 1986-1989 - First Secretary at the Portuguese Permanent Representation at the UN and other International Organisations (responsible for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law), Geneva
• 1989-1991 - Counsellor at the Portuguese Embassy in Tokyo
• 1991-1994 - Political Counsellor at the Portuguese Embassy in London
• 1992 - Member of the European Union Presidency team working on the Middle East Peace Process
• 1992 -1994 - Member of the Portuguese Delegation at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva
• 1994 - Head of the Europe Unit, Political Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon
• 1995 -1996 - Chief of Staff of the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon
• 1997-1998 - Coordinator of the Portuguese Delegation at the UN Security Council, New York
• 1999 - 2000 - Director of the Portuguese Interests Section at the Embassy of the Netherlands, Djakarta
• 2000 - 2003 - Ambassador of Portugal in Indonesia, Jakarta

Political activities

Ana Gomes has been a member of the Socialist Party since March 18, 2002.

Political responsibilities:

• 2002 - Elected Member of the National and Political Committees of the Socialist Party
• 2003 - 2004 - National Secretary for External Relations of the Socialist Party
• 2004 - ongoing - Socialist Member of the European Parliament and Member of the National Committee of the Socialist Party

Academic background

1979 - Law Degree, Classical University of Lisbon

1981 - Community Law Course, National Institute of Administration, Lisbon

1988 - Summer course at the International Institute for Human Rights, University of Strasbourg

Publications

Numerous articles published in the Courrier Internacional, Diário de Notícias, Expresso, Jornal de Leiria, Jornal de Notícias, Público and Visão.

Book Todo-o-Terreno - 4 Anos de Reflexões (RCP Edições, November 2008, Lisbon)

Awards

• Ruth Pearce Award for Human Rights by Human Rights NGOs, Geneva, 1989
• Personality of the Year Award - 1999, Expresso weekly newspaper, Lisbon, 1999
• Personality of the Year Award - 1999, Association of International Correspondents, Lisbon, 1999
• Human Rights Award of the Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese parliament), 1999
• Activist of the Year - 2008, The Parliament Magazine, Brussels, 2008

Membership in Civil Society Organisations

• Member of the Student Union, Classical University of Lisbon, Lisbon (1974–1976)
• Member of the Board of the Union of Portuguese Diplomats (1982–1986 and 1994–1996)
• Deputy-Chair of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, European Parliament Section
• Member of the Portuguese chapter of Amnesty International
• Member of International Development NGOs CIDAC and Engenho & Obra
• Member of the Portuguese Association of Women Jurists

Decorations

• Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ, awarded by President Jorge Sampaio in 2000