Political groups

2004-2009: Socialist Group in the European Parliament
2009-2019: Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament

National parties

2004-2019: Partido Socialista

Biography

Ana Gomes was born in the Lisbon parish of São Sebastião da Pedreira. She began attending the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in 1972 during a period marked by the authoritarian Estado Novo regime's increasing academic repression in response to student opposition resistance. Gomes thus soon became active in student political activism against the regime as part of the underground Anti-Colonial Struggle Committee and groups with links to the Re-Organized Movement of the Party of the Proletariat.

Gomes was a career diplomat, joining the Portuguese Foreign Service in 1980 where she worked with the department responsible for the negotiations for the accession of Portugal to the European Economic Community. She served in the Portuguese Missions at the UN in Geneva and New York and also in the Embassies in Tokyo and London. Between 1999 and 2003, she was Head of the Portuguese Interests Section and then Ambassador in Indonesia, where she played a role in the process leading up to the independence of the former Portuguese colony of Timor-Leste from Indonesia and in the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Portugal and Indonesia, which she received wide recognition for.

Gomes suspended her diplomatic career in 2003 to enter party politics. She was elected Member of the European Parliament in the 2004 elections, and served for three terms (re-elected in 2009 and in 2014). In the European Parliament, she served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs (2004–2014, substitute 2014-2019), the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (Vice-Chair 2004–2009, member 2009-2019), the Subcommittee on Human Rights (2009–2014, substitute 2014-2019) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (2014–2019, substitute 2009-2014). She was a substitute member of the Committee on Development and of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality from 2004 to 2009. In addition, Gomes was Vice-Chair of the Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion from 2016 to 2017, and, from 2018 to 2019, of the Special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance. From 2017 to 2018, she was also a member of the Special Committee on Terrorism and from 2006 to 2007, she was a member of the Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners. Furthermore, she was a member of the Delegation for relations with the United States (2014-2019, substitute 2004-2014), the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (2014-2019), the Delegation for relations with Iraq (2009-2014, substitute 2014-2019), and the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (2004-2009, substitute 2009-2014). She was also a substitute member of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (2004-2009), the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (2014-2019) and the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (2014-2019).

Friends of Pakistan group reception. L-R: Ana Gomes, Richard Corbett, Emma McClarkin, Malala Yousafzai © European Union 2013 - European Parliament

On 10 September 2020, she officially announced her candidacy for the 2021 Portuguese presidential election and finished second, with 13% of the votes, the best result ever achieved by a woman in a presidential election in Portugal. 

Gomes is the recipient of numerous human rights awards, including the Ruth Pearce Award for Human Rights by Human Rights NGOs, Human Rights Award of the Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese parliament), and The Parliament Magazine’s 2008 Activist of the Year.

For more information on her time as an MEP, click here.

Selected plenary speeches

On 22 April 2008, Ana Gomes spoke at the plenary session in her capacity as rapporteur for the Committee on Development’s own-initiative report on China’s policy and its effects on Africa, in which she called for the promotion of sustainable development and good governance to common benefit and on the basis of the needs and interests of African countries and people through a dialogue between Africa, the EU and China: 

In a plenary debate on 10 December 2013, Ana Gomes, in her capacity as shadow rapporteur for the Committee on Foreign Affairs’ report on the financing instrument for democracy and human rights worldwide (2014-2020), appealed for more support for human rights defenders and civil society:

On 19 May 2015, in the plenary debate on the implementation of the Common Security and Defence Policy, Ana Gomes, rapporteur for the Committee on Foreign Affairs’ own-initiative report on the impact of developments in European defence markets on the security and defence capabilities, urged more cooperation in the field of the acquisition, pooling and sharing of military material and equipment:

As Vice-Chair of the Special Committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance, Ana Gomes, in the plenary debate on 25 March 2019, highlighted the shortcomings in the field and made an urgent appeal for fair taxation, fair competition and an effective fight against tax fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing:

What's in the archives?

The fonds of Ana Gomes contain 4 audio cassettes, 1 VHS and 64 DVDS from 2005 to 2006. These are copies of interviews and radio and television programmes in Portugal (RTP) that MEP Gomes took part in, which indirectly reflect her parliamentary activity.