Doru-Claudian Frunzulică has been an active member of Parliament’s DEVE committee since his election in 2014. A former diplomat, he advocates developing value implementation in both external and internal EU policies.

Among a number of Frunzulică’s reports and opinions, a recent notable achievement was his role as rapporteur on the European Fund for Sustainable Development Regulation in addressing the root causes of the migration crisis.

Dedicated to achieving the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals, he has been instrumental in advancing European development policy and regulations for eradicating poverty, combating inequalities and fighting injustice.

As a strong defender of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, Frunzulică prefers to assess the situation on the ground in partner countries in person wherever possible to ensure that programmes supported through the EU’s instruments in these areas are working well.

Considering how poverty and terrorism present interlinked threats to today’s European security, his DEVE work can be seen as being complementary to his activity in the recently created Special Committee on Terrorism.

Jan Olbrycht was first elected as an MEP in 2004, when Poland joined the EU.

In the current legislative term, he has concentrated primarily on his work in European Parliament’s BUDG committee as vice-coordinator of the EPP group and as the standing rapporteur for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). In this role, he negotiated the revision of the current MFF (2014-2020) on behalf of the Parliament and he has worked on its position on the recently presented new multiannual framework.

Since first entering Parliament, Olbrycht has been also involved in the REGI committee. He was rapporteur on the reports on the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation and the European Regional Development Fund regulations.

Regional policy remains a key focus and he is dedicated to the urban dimension of different EU policies, which is why he established and presides over the Parliament’s URBAN Intergroup.

Brando Benifei is one of the Parliament’s youngest and most active MEPs and this year marks his third consecutive nomination to the MEP Awards short list.

His main legislative areas are in employment and social affairs, foreign policy and defence. He is co-chair of the Parliament’s Youth Intergroup and vice-chair of its Disability Intergroup. He has been responsible for key reports on youth employment, including the Youth Guarantee and on the integrating refugees into the labour market.

As EMPL rapporteur, he recently successfully concluded the work on the European Solidarity Corps, a European Commission flagship initiative, soon to be discussed in trilogue. A true technology ‘geek’, he has been designated eSkills4Jobs ambassador by the Commission and is currently a StartUp Europe Awards ambassador.

Benifei is a passionate pro-European, and earlier this year was appointed as a board member of the Spinelli Group. He was also recently elected vice-president of the European Movement International.

Nils Torvalds has been an MEP since 2012 and last year became vice-chair of the Parliament’s Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group.

Politics, reading and writing have always been important parts of Torvalds’ life, through his years as a journalist and correspondent and now in the European Parliament.

An exceptionally active member of Parliament’s ENVI committee, Torvalds is currently shadow rapporteur on the renewable energy file, on the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry, on the circular economy package and on monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles.

Torvalds’ work on sustainable forest management has been widely acknowledged, always emphasising the key role of the forest when moving towards a fossil-free EU.

Over the last year, Franc Bogovič has hosted or participated in a number of conferences focusing on the circular economy potential of new technologies, primarily in the agriculture sector.

He also hosted, with cooperation from the European biotech industry association EuropaBio and the EU-backed BBI-JU public-private partnership, a 'European Biotech Week' exhibition in the Parliament. This aimed at educating the public on new plant-breeding techniques and highlighting the potential of reusing biomaterials.

Along with fellow AGRI Committee MEP Tibor Szanyi, he was also successful in acquiring €3.3m of EU funding for a Preparatory Action “Smart rural areas in the 21st Century”, aimed at implementing successful practices, ICT and online processes, such as digital hubs. This ‘Smart Villages’ idea is, he says, closely linked to the Digital Single Market, digital platforms, urban-rural links, the sharing and collaborative economy, rural mobility and the bioeconomy and looks to improve quality of life, education and employment.

An acknowledged expert in international trade and investment, veteran MEP Laima Andrikienė was elected to Parliament in 2004. This followed a career in Lithuanian politics, where she served as a trade and industry minister and as the country’s European Affairs minister.

During the current parliamentary term, she has focused on the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy, with a special focus on Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. Her recent initiative on providing Eastern Partnership countries with association agreements and Free Trade Areas with the EU will allow them the opportunity to join the Customs and Energy Unions in the future, a move that has been strongly supported by Parliament.

She has also dedicated much of her time to EU-Belarus cooperation in efforts to combat illicit trade. Andrikienė has also been outspoken regarding China’s controversial ‘One Belt, One Road’ strategy and the associated challenges.

Recently, she was appointed as EPP group rapporteur on the SEDE subcommittee Opinion for establishing a framework for screening foreign direct investments into the EU.