Political groups

2004: Group of the Party of European Socialists
2004-2009: Socialist Group in the European Parliament
2009-2014: Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament

National parties

2004-2014: Magyar Szocialista Párt

Biography

Zita Gurmai was born in Budapest, Hungary. She studied at the Karl Marx University of Economics (now the Corvinus University of Budapest), obtaining a doctorate from the university in 1991. Prior to her political work, Gurmai worked in a number of private enterprises. She was a communications coordinator at the Comporgan company and a sales executive at Westel Rádiótelefon Kft. From 1994 to 1995, Gurmai was a Public Relations manager at the Political History Institute, before occupying a managerial position at Szelén Művelődési Tanácsadó Kft (1995–2002). 

Gurmai began working in politics in 1995, becoming the chargé d'affaires of the Women's Organisation of the Hungarian Socialist Party, becoming its chair in 2001. She was a Member of the Hungarian Parliament from 2002 to 2004, and was reelected in 2018.

Zita Gurmai was a Member of the European Parliament from May 2004 to June 2014. She served on the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (Vice-Chair from 2004 to 2009) and was Vice-Chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (2009-2014). She was a member of the Committee on Regional Development  (2004-2009) and a substitute of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (2004-2014). In addition to her committee assignments, Gurmai was a member or substitute of the Delegation for relations with Canada (2004-2007), the Delegation for relations with Japan (2004-2009), the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (2007-2014), the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (2009-2014), and the Delegation to the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (2009-2014). 

Award Ceremony ' Annual Summit of Women in Parliaments - WIP - Global Forum '. L-R: Eygló Harðardóttir, Zita Gurmai, Ntlhoi Motsamai, Kathy Calvin, Silvana Koch-Mehrin, Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, Daphne Barak-Erez, Loren Legarda © European Union 2013 - European Parliament

Gurmai is a Member of the Hungarian National Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. As part of her work with the Parliamentary Assembly, she is the coordinator of the Parliamentary Network Women Free from Violence and the general rapporteur on violence against women of the SOC group.

Zita Gurmai holds the position of President of PES Women, which promotes gender equality inside and outside the Party of European Socialists. She is the currently the Vice-President of the Foundation of European Progressive Studies. She was also Vice-Chair of the Socialist International in 1999 and from 2003 until 2008.

She has been as Member of the Hungarian Parliament since her re-election in April 2018 and is a Vice-President of the Socialist Party. 

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

Selected plenary speeches

On 19 June 2008, Zita Gurmai spoke at the plenary session in her capacity as rapporteur for the Committee on Transport and Tourism’s own-initiative report ‘Towards Europe-wide Safer, Cleaner and Efficient Mobility: The First Intelligent Car Report’:

In 2010, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs appointed Zita Gurmai and Alain Lamassoure rapporteurs for the proposal for a regulation on the Citizens’ Initiative. In this capacity, she addressed the plenary session on 15 December 2010:

On 12 March 2012, in the plenary debate on the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality’s own-initiative report ‘Women in political decision making - quality and equality’, Zita Gurmai pleaded for more women in decision-making positions and called for a clear commitment on the part of the Commission and the Members States:

On 16 January 2014, the plenary debated non-discrimination in the framework of sexual and reproductive health and rights - a debate that was particularly fervent in light of plans by the Spanish government for a tougher abortion law. Zita Gurmai urged the Commission to defend women’s rights:

What's in the archives?

These fonds focus substantially on developing the “Citizens’ Initiative” as introduced by the Lisbon Treaty from 1/4/2012 as an instrument for taking part in EU policy-making. The Committee on Petitions and the Committee on Constitutional Affairs took part in the deliberations on the European Commission proposal and the fonds also contain documents on this matter, as Gurmai was a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs from 2009 to 2014. The fond is organised under the following six headings, where information is available: on the procedure followed, Parliament’s legislative work, the views of interest groups, information campaigns, press releases and conferences.