Edite Estrela has extensive political experience, having been the Mayor of Sintra, a member of the Assembly of the Republic and member of the European Parliament. At the European Parliament, she was twice elected “Best Member of Parliament in the social affairs area” (2010 and 2014).
Chair of the Portuguese Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and of the Network of Contact Parliamentarians for a healthy environment. She also represents the Assembly Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media in the North-South Centre. She was Vice-President of the Assembly between 2022 and January 2024.
Throughout her career, her commitment to defending women’s rights has always been evident. In the European Parliament, she was rapporteur for the review of the European Directive on maternity leave. As a member of the Assembly, she has been responsible for several reports on gender equality on topics such as the fight for equal conditions in sport or reducing the digital divide, among others. In Portugal, she is regularly present in different initiatives in defence of equal rights. In 2022, she collaborated on the book “Human Rights of Women”.
She was vice-president of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development and rapporteur on “The Climate Crisis and the Rule of Law”. At the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee), she is the rapporteur for monitoring the situation in Georgia.
Graduated in Classical Philology, she is the author of several works on the Portuguese language, having become a reference personality in national culture. In 2010, she participated in a documentary on the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe.
The project “75 women in 75 years of Council of Europe history” is organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the Council of Europe with the Council of Europe and the Permanent Representations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
