Jana Toom

Jana Toom
MEP
Toom in 2022
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 July 2014
ConstituencyEstonia
Member of the Riigikogu
In office
4 April 2011 – 1 July 2014
Deputy Mayor of Tallinn
In office
2010–2011
Personal details
Born
Jana Tšernogorova

15 October 1966 (1966-10-15) (age 58)
Tallinn, Estonia
CitizenshipUSSR (1966–1991)
Russia (1991–2006)
Estonia (since 2006)
Political partyKE (2009–present)
Children5
Parent(s)Margarita Tšernogorova [et] (mother)
Igor Tšernogorov (father)
RelativesNatalia Tomson [et] (maternal grandmother)
Websitewww.yanatoom.ee

Jana Toom (born Jana Tšernogorova, formerly Yana Litvinova, Yana Toom; born 15 October 1966) is an Estonian politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2014. She is a member of the Estonian Centre Party.[1]

Born to ethnic Russian immigrant parents, Toom become a naturalized citizen of Estonia in 2008. In the 2015 Estonian elections, Toom was also elected to the Estonian parliament (Riigikogu) with 11,573 votes; she decided to not become MP and kept her MEP seat in the European Parliament instead.[2]

A member of the ALDE (Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe), Toom currently serves on the Committee on Petitions (since 2014) and the Committee on Regional Development (since 2021).[3] She was previously a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (2014–2021) and her parliamentary group's coordinator on the Committee on Culture and Education (2014–2019).

In addition to her committee assignments, Toom has been part of the parliament's delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee since 2014. She is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence and Digital,[4] the European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights[5] and the European Parliament Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages.[6]

Toom was re-elected in 2019.[7]

In the 2023 Estonian parliamentary election, she was elected in the Riigikogu electoral district no. 7.

Controversy

In July 2016, Toom was part of a small delegation of MEPs, including Javier Couso Permuy and Tatjana Ždanoka, which traveled to Damascus to meet Bashar Al-Assad.[8]

In November 2023, a scandal emerged in Estonia where Yana Toom financed the legal aid expenses of Russian stateless persons deported from Estonia for anti-state activities, so that they could go to court against the Estonian state.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Jana TOOM". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  2. ^ Cynthia Kroet (March 2, 2015), Reform Party wins Estonian election European Voice.
  3. ^ Mia Bartoloni (February 12, 2021), Movers & Shakers The Parliament Magazine.
  4. ^ Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence and Digital European Parliament.
  5. ^ Members European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.
  6. ^ Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages European Parliament.
  7. ^ "Eestist valitud Euroopa Parlamendi liikmed on teada". Pärnu Postimees (in Estonian). 2019-05-27. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  8. ^ Maïa de La Baume (July 4, 2017), Push to crack down on rogue European Parliament missions Politico Europe.
  9. ^ ERR News [1],