Lívia Járóka

Lívia Járóka (born 6 October 1974 in Tata) is a Hungarian politician of part Romani ethnicity. She was a Member of the European Parliament, elected as part of the Fidesz list in 2004. Járóka was the second Romani (but the first Romani woman) ever elected to the European Parliament; the first was Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia from Spain, who served from 1994 to 1999.

Járóka grew up in Sopron, a town near Hungary's western border with Austria. Her father is ethnically Roma, her mother Hungarian. After getting an MA in sociology from the Central European University Warsaw campus on a scholarship from the Soros-funded Open Society Institute she went on to study anthropology in Britain, focusing on Romani issues and culture. In August 2003 she had a daughter and a son in 2007. In 2012 she finished her PhD in Social Anthropology at the University College of London.

Memberships

She is Chair of the Working Group of the European People's Party on Roma Inclusion and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. She is also a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Delegation for Relations with India. She is a substitute member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, as well as the Committee on Human Rights.