CEU alumna and Board of Trustees member Monica Macovei (LEGS '93) was presented The Parliament magazine’s “MEP 2012” award last month for her work on the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee. The awards ceremony was held in Brussels on Tuesday, September 25.
The magazine cited her record of judicial reform in her native Romania, plus her advocacy in the parliament for transparency, civil rights and anti-corruption efforts for countries both within and outside the borders of the European Union. She was selected by a vote of her fellow parliamentarians.
“This award encourages me to continue projects at [the] European level and support the rule of law in my country and all over the world,” she wrote on her blog. “People and democracy must be defended every day.”
Monica has represented Romania in the European Parliament since 2009, and serves on a number of committees, including a special committee on organized crime, corruption and money laundering.
From 2004 to 2007 she served as the Romanian justice minister, distinguishing herself by a series of groundbreaking judicial reforms and anti-corruption efforts. The Economist praised her for “facing down tycoons and politicians used to a minister who takes orders rather than gives them.” Her reforms are credited with making it possible for Romania to enter the EU, which it did in the final year of her tenure.
Afterwards, Monica went on to serve as an anti-corruption adviser to the Macedonian prime minister before becoming an MEP.
Monica defended her MA thesis, in the Comparative Constitutional Law Stream of CEU’s Department of Legal Studies, in 1993. An active alumni supporter of the university, she has been a member of the CEU Board of Trustees since 2007.
Congratulations Monica!