30 Facts About Marina Yannakoudakis

Marina Yannakoudakis was born on 16 April 1956 and is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee and a former Conservative Member of the European Parliament for London.

Marina Yannakoudakis was elected at the 2009 European Parliament election.

Marina Yannakoudakis studied for a BSc in government, politics and modern history at Brunel University, where she was chairman of the Conservative students, and received an MA in education from the Open University.

Marina Yannakoudakis was a full member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and a substitute member of the Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering.

Marina Yannakoudakis was a member of the Delegation to the EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Marina Yannakoudakis was a member of the High-Level Contact Group for relations with the Turkish Cypriot community in the northern part of the island and was the Conservative and the European Conservatives and Reformists spokesman on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

Marina Yannakoudakis led calls in the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality for an impact assessment of the legislation to be conducted which resulted in the proposals being shelved.

Marina Yannakoudakis has spoken out against EU proposals to have a quota for women on boardrooms, where she described the proposals as "patronising".

Marina Yannakoudakis pushed for a redress to the Test Achats vs Council of Ministers case, a European Court of Justice ruling which determined it was illegal for insurance companies to discriminate on the basis of gender in the European Union.

Marina Yannakoudakis worked on issues related to women and entrepreneurship and child protection.

Marina Yannakoudakis led a campaign in the European Parliament against female genital mutilation.

Marina Yannakoudakis drafted the committee's report on the voluntary donation of tissues and cells which called for more donations of cord blood for stem cell transplants.

Marina Yannakoudakis is the committee's contact point for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Marina Yannakoudakis led a campaign to ensure that EU rules do not make it more difficult for electronic cigarette users to access e-cigs.

Marina Yannakoudakis worked to support efforts to find people who went missing during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and Cypriot intercommunal violence.

Marina Yannakoudakis was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights.

Marina Yannakoudakis has campaigned for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Northern Cyprus.

Marina Yannakoudakis met and received assurances from Turkish Cypriot leader Dr Dervis Eroglu that he would sign a repeal of the gay ban into law and by putting pressure on the authorities in the north she was instrumental in overturning the anti-gay law.

Marina Yannakoudakis supported LGBT rights by co-authoring a resolution on LGBT rights in Africa especially the protection of lesbians and called on the EU to suspend its aid to Uganda in light of the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

Marina Yannakoudakis was strongly opposed to the introduction of a European Union financial transaction tax which she believed would have an adverse effect on the City of London.

Marina Yannakoudakis has campaigned to protect companies in her constituency threatened by EU rules including Prudential plc.

Marina Yannakoudakis led campaigns to seek savings in the EU budget.

Marina Yannakoudakis raised concerns about spending on EU orchestras and has called for cuts to be made to the European Personnel Selection Office.

Marina Yannakoudakis made a number of comments on the enlargement of the EU.

Marina Yannakoudakis voted against the accession of Iceland to the European Union citing the ongoing Icesave dispute as an obstacle to EU membership.

Marina Yannakoudakis called for Iceland to fully compensate all UK depositors, especially the London councils which had invested surplus money.

Marina Yannakoudakis opposed a European Parliament report recommending the accession of Turkey to the European Union citing concerns about Ankara's failure to fully respect women's and minority rights, especially Kurds in Turkey.

Marina Yannakoudakis criticised Turkey's refusal to work with the 2012 Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Marina Yannakoudakis married her Greek-born husband, Zacharias Yannakoudakis, in 1983.

Marina Yannakoudakis was finance director of the company that they founded and ran together until her election; the couple has three children.