MEP Diana Riba is to lead the ticket, intent on continuing to influence European regulations, defending Catalonia and shielding our social, civil and political rights

Esquerra Republicana MEP Diana Riba is to lead Esquerra’s ticket in the European elections on 9th June. After being proposed by the National Executive and with no other candidate having been put forward, Ms Riba has been formally proclaimed this week.

An educator and activist for civil and political rights, she took the plunge into politics in 2019 with the aim of taking the voice of the victims of reprisals and their relatives to Europe and denouncing the violation of fundamental rights in the Spanish state, a task that she had until then been performing at the Associació Catalana pels Drets Civils (Catalan Association for Civil Rights), among whose membership are relatives of prisoners and political exiles.

During her years with the Greens Group/European Free Alliance, Ms Riba has also shown outstandingly persistent work on impactful EU legislation. For example, she was a negotiator on behalf of the Greens/ALE in the directive on violence against women, the first European legislation to address gender-based violence. Her efforts in getting the Catalan language recognized by the European institutions are also notable, along with her role as a Vice-Chair of the Inquiry Committee on the use of Pegasus spyware.

In addition, she has participated in several initiatives in the field of civil and political rights, national rights, and several others. Ms Riba has played a key role in the anti-SLAPP directive to put a stop to abusive lawsuits against journalists and activists, and was able to get coverage extended to political opponents and human rights defenders. In addition, she has played a leading role in the campaign for "A Europe of All Peoples" to obtain recognition of all stateless nations, and her transactions with Europol have contributed to that organization changing the methodology in drafting their reports, thus disassociating the Catalan independence movement from terrorism.