Lívia Járóka

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

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. As of January 2005, she was still enrolled as a senior PhD anthropology student at University College London researching the politics of ethnic identity among Roma in Hungary.

In 2006 January she was named a Young Global Leader among other 150 prominent young figures of the world, in 2006 October among others she won the "MEP of 2006" award in the Justice and Fundamental Rights category by the Parliament Magazine.

External links

• Official Website
• Speech by Lívia Járóka at Second European Roma Summit
• University College London student profile