BIOGRAPHIES

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Rodi Kratsa Tsagaropoulou

Vice President of the European Parliament

GREECE

Ms. Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou is a member of the European Parliament and in particular the Group of the European People's Party and European Democrats - New Democracy. In 2007, she was elected first vice president of the European Parliament. Her main responsibilities include serving on the Committee of Transport and Tourism, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, the Committee on Budgetary Control, and as a member of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly.

She was born on the island of Zakyhthos in Greece. She studied sociology at the University of Geneva. Her postgraduate studies followed at the Institute of European Studies where she completed her research. She also participated in the activities of the European Cultural Centre in Geneva, of which she is a member of the board.

She has received numerous awards including the Knight of the Legion of Honor by the president of the French Republic, the XENIA International Exhibition of the Tourism Industry Award for her contribution to European tourism, an award by the mayor of Athens in 1997 for her initiatives for European integration, and the Anna Lindh Foundation Euro-Med Award for the Dialogue Between Cultures. In 2008, she was voted as the personality of the year by the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association for her contributions to maritime affairs. In the same year, she was also proclaimed a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III.

She is married to a former member of the Greek Parliament, Apostolos Kratsas. They have two children.