Adina-Ioana Vălean

A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), and a member of the European Peoples Party, Vălean was elected to the Chamber of Deputies on the Justice and Truth list for Călărași County (during the 2004 elections).[3]

Vălean became a Member of the European Parliament on 1 January 2007, with the accession of Romania to the European Union. Throughout her time in parliament, she served on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy; in 2019, she became the committee's chairwoman. During her time on the committee, she was the Parliament's rapporteur for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)[1] and the European Union roaming regulations.[4]

From 2014 to 2017, Vălean was one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament under the leadership of President Antonio Tajani; in that capacity, she was in charge of information and communications technology (ICT).[5] She also chaired the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety from 2017 until 2019 and served on the Committee on Petitions from 2009 until 2014.[6][7]

In addition to her committee assignments, Vălean was part of the Parliaments delegations with the countries of Southeast Europe (2007–2009); the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (2009–2014); and the United States (since 2014). She was also a member of the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue (TLD);[5] the European Internet Forum;[8] and the European Parliament Intergroup on Long Term Investment and Reindustrialisation.[9]

In November 2019, the center-right government under Prime Minister Ludovic Orban put Vălean and Siegfried Mureșan forward as candidates to be the country's next European Commissioner.[10] Vălean was subsequently picked to be the European Commissioner for Transport by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.[1]

In early March 2020, Vălean was appointed by von der Leyen to serve on the commission's special task force to coordinate the European Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]