Ana Gomes


Ana Maria Rosa Martins Gomes, better known as Ana Gomes, 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. She is married with one daughter, three stepchildren and six grandchildren. 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 in connection with statements made by her in an television debate and in an interview with the Portuguese Journal "Diário de Noticias" whereas the newspaper article indicated that investigations were under way in relation to the Viana shipyards and in this connection Gomes commented that "something was starting to happen with regard to a case of blatant corruption" have both been decided against by the European Parliament.

European Parliament

Positions (2009–2014)

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, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Sudan, Turkey, USA, etc.
Gomes took part in the following Election Observation Missions :

Diplomatic career

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

Awards