Michèle Rivasi

French politician (1953–2023)

Michèle Rivasi
Rivasi in 2014

Member of the European Parliament
In office 14 July 2009 – 29 November 2023
Succeeded by	François Thiollet
Constituency	South East France
Member of the National Assembly for Drôme's 1st constituency
In office 12 June 1997 – 18 June 2002
Preceded by	Patrick Labaune
Succeeded by	Patrick Labaune

Personal details
Born	(1953-02-09)9 February 1953 Montélimar, France
Died	29 November 2023(2023-11-29) (aged 70) Brussels, Belgium
Political party	Europe Écologie–The Greens (from 2009)
Other political affiliations	Independent (until 2002) Socialist Party (2002–2003) The Greens (2005–2009)
Alma mater	ENS Fontenay-aux-Roses

Michèle Rivasi (9 February 1953 – 29 November 2023) was a French politician who served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 until her death in 2023, for Europe Écologie–The Greens. She was previously a member of the French National Assembly and before that, a teacher. An environmentalist active since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, she was also a leader of Greenpeace in France.

Early life

Born on 9 February 1953, in Montélimar, Drôme, in southeastern France.^[1]^[2] She was an alumna of the École normale supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses and taught biology^[3] at Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres^[1]^[2] before entering politics.

Political career

Career in national politics

In 1986 Rivasi founded the Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity following the Chernobyl disaster.^[4]

From 1997 until 2002, Rivasi was a member of the National Assembly, representing the Drôme's 1st constituency (Valence).^[2] In parliament, she served on the Defence Committee.^[2] She was classified as an independent ecologist close to the PS, but later joined Europe Écologie–The Greens.^[5]

From September 2003 to November 2004, Rivasi was the director of Greenpeace in France.^[6]

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2023

In 2009, The Greens selected Rivasi to lead the Europe Écologie list in the South-East constituency ahead of the 2009 European elections, in addition to which she was an assistant to the Mayor of Valence, and a member of the General Council of the Drôme.^[7]

In parliament, Rivasi served on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (2009–2014), the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (2014–2019) and the Special Committee on the European Union's authorisation procedure for pesticides (2018).^[8] After the 2019 elections, she served on the Committee on Development and the Committee on Budgetary Control.^[9] From 2010 until 2011, she notably served as the Parliament's rapporteur on measures to co-ordinate the European response to health crises such as the 2009 flu pandemic.^[10]^[11] In 2020, she also joined the Special Committee on Beating Cancer.^[12] From 2021 onwards, she was part of the Parliament's delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe.^[13]

Following the 2019 elections, Rivasi was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's four-year work program on digitization.^[14]

In addition to her committee assignments, Rivasi was also part of the Parliament's delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly beginning in 2009.^[9] She was also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals^[15]

Ahead of the 2017 French presidential election, Rivasi ran for her party's nomination for the presidency but eventually lost in the final round of the primaries against Yannick Jadot.^[16]^[17]

In February 2019, Rivasi was one of four Green MEPs (the others being Molly Scott Cato, Tilly Metz, and Thomas Waitz) who were temporarily arrested after breaking into the Kleine Brogel Air Base to protest against the presence of U.S. B61 nuclear bombs on European soil; the protest followed the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty earlier that month.^[18]

Political positions

Rivasi described herself as "vaccination skeptic".^[19] She sparked controversy in July 2021 after comparing the extension of the health pass obligation announced by President Macron with apartheid and many left-wing officials, including from the Greens, expressed their indignation and criticised her.^[20] On two occasions in 2021, she made a communication to the so-called ″conseil scientifique indépendant″ (Independent scientific council) of the highly controversial RéinfoCovid website that propagates COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.^[21]

Rivasi was a strong supporter of alternative medicine and homeopathy.^[22] She opposed the planned Midi-Catalonia (Midcat) pipeline that would more than double the amount of gas that can be piped across the Pyrenees mountains that border Spain and France.^[23]

Death

Rivasi died from a heart attack in Brussels on 29 November 2023, at age 70, while on the way to the Parliament.^[24]

References

^ ^a ^b "Your MEPs : Michèle RIVASI". Europa. European Parliament. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Michèle Rivasi Archived 11 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine National Assembly.
^ Carmen Paun (15 January 2018), Europe's green brawler Archived 3 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine Politico Europe
^ "Décès de Michèle Rivasi". Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (in French). 29 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^ "Michèle Rivasi". Ecolopedia (in French). 22 August 2016. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^ Dodet, Remy (2 November 2016). "EELV. Rivasi contre Jadot : ils ont le même programme... mais ne s'aiment guère". L'Obs (in French). Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^ "Valence : Michèle Rivasi soutient "Avec" mais ne figurera pas sur la liste". Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). Drôme. 29 January 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^ "Michèle Rivasi". European Parliament. 9 February 1953. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^ ^a ^b Michèle Rivasi Archived 5 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament.
^ Peter O'Donnell (7 July 2010), Ministers admit flu errors Archived 3 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine European Voice.
^ Dave Keating (7 December 2011), Commission seeks powers to lead EU health-crises response Archived 3 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine European Voice.
^ Members of the Special Committee on Beating Cancer Archived 12 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament, press release of 9 July 2020.
^ Members of the delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe Archived 10 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament.
^ Florian Eder (13 June 2019), POLITICO Brussels Playbook, presented by Google: Madrid's moment — Parliament working groups sneak peak — Happy birthday, GDPR Archived 1 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine Politico Europe.
^ Members Archived 31 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.
^ Sébastien Tronche (7 November 2016). "Yannick Jadot élu candidat d'EELV face à Michèle Rivasi pour la présidentielle de 2017". Le Lab. Europe 1. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
^ Quentin Ariès (7 November 2016), French Greens pick MEP Jadot for 2017 presidential race Archived 3 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine Politico Europe.
^ Eline Schaart (20 February 2019), 4 Green MEPs arrested after anti-nuclear protest at Belgian military base Archived 3 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine Politico Europe.
^ Rivasi's blog Archived 4 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
^ "BBC". Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
^ Vincent Coquaz Libération Archived 1 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine, 27 April 2021.
^ Reporterre Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine, June 2019
^ Geert De Clercq (17 April 2018), Exclusive: Viability of French-Spain gas pipeline questioned – report Archived 3 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine Reuters.
^ "Décès de Michèle Rivasi : les réactions politiques à la mort de l'eurodéputée drômoise". ici. 29 November 2023. Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.