My Women in Power project continues this week with the launch of the female members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament. This group, as with the previous groups I have launched, includes a number of prominent British MEPs such as Sharon Bowles and Baroness Sarah Ludford.
While some MEPs work only in their native language, getting by in Brussels without using the two 
languages spoken most wildly in the Parliament, French and English, others have used their language skills as the basis for building successful careers. Bulgarian MEP Filiz Hakaeva Hyusmenova, for instance, obtained a degree in French and Russian Language and Literature from the University of Veliko Tarnovo, and went on to work as an assistant professor of French at the University of Rousse. She was also, for a time, a foreign languages expert at the Regional Inspectorate of the Ministry of Education and Science in Silistra. With this experience she moved into the political field and later became an MEP.
There are some in the ALDE group whose background, remote from the world of politics, has heavily influenced their political interests within the Parliament. Britta Reimers, from Germany, worked in the agriculture industry after completing her studies in Agriculture at the University of Applied Sciences in Kiel, Rendsburg. She has also worked as a farmer for her family’s business in Lockstedt. Now, as a member of the European Parliament sitting on both the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Fisheries, she has been able to put her practical experience to good use by influencing policy
Other impressive ALDE group members include Sylvie Goulard from France, and Silvana Koch-Mehrin from Germany. Silvana Koch-Mehrin had a very successful career in the world of business after completing her PhD in Economics and History. She was the co-founder and manager of a business consultancy until 2004, and is now a member of the World Economic Forum. Like many of the women described in Women in Power, she is the recipient of a number of informal awards, including ‘Woman of the Year’ (Freundin magazine) and ‘Up and Coming Politician of the Year’.
I hope that you enjoy reading these, and other, profiles of women members of the ALDE group. There remain only four sets of profiles to launch, and these will be available on the site in the upcoming weeks.
