Rasa JUKNEVIČIENĖ - MEP

Born on 26 January 1958 in Tiltagaliai, Lithuania, Rasa Juknevičienė was an integral Member of the Lithuanian Reform Movement Sąjūdis, and, as such, became a signatory of the Act of Lithuanian Independence, while working as a doctor in the Central Hospital of Pasvalys.

She was elected to the Lithuanian Parliament (this Parliament declared the Independence of Lithuania) in 1990 in the first free elections with Reform Movement Sąjūdis, and would be re-elected five times to the seat with the Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats Party (which originated from the Sąjūdis movement). During her tenure as a Member of Parliament for many years, she worked in the Committee for National Security and Defence and chaired the Commission for NATO Affairs.

Rasa Juknevičienė served her country as Vice-President of the Parliament as well as Minister of Defence (2008-2012) and would join the NATO Parliamentary Assembly as Head of the Lithuanian Delegation in 1999, becoming its President nineteen years later, the first woman in history to hold this office.

Having been elected as a Member of the European Parliament in its ninth term (2019-2024), Rasa Juknevičienė is a Member of the Committee on Development, and is a Substitute Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, as well as the Subcommittee on Security and Defence. She is a Co-Rapporteur on Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI). Rasa Juknevičienė is a Member of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee.

She is an active Member of both the Advisory Council of the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

MEP since 2019.