Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová

Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová (née Kubovičová; born 28 November 1976) is a Slovak politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. A former journalist, she previously served as State Secretary of the Ministry of Labor, Social and Family Affairs, and vice-chairwoman of the National Council of Slovakia. As a member of the Freedom and Solidarity political party, Nicholsonová was elected as a member of the National Council during the 2010 Slovak parliamentary election, served as State Secretary and later became part of the Social Affairs Committee.

Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová
Member of the European Parliament for Slovakia
In office 2 July 2019 – 15 July 2024
Deputy Speaker of the National Council
In office 23 March 2016 – 28 June 2019 Serving with Béla Bugár, Martin Glváč and Andrej Hrnčiar
Speaker	Andrej Danko
Succeeded by	Martin Klus
Member of the National Council
In office 23 March 2016 – 28 June 2019
Personal details
Born	Lucia Kubovičová[1] (1976-11-28) 28 November 1976 (age 47) Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
Political party	Freedom and Solidarity (2010 - 2021) Jablko (from 2023)
Spouse(s)	Tom Nicholson ​ (div. 2013)​ Peter Ďuriš ​ (m. 2015)​
Children	3
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Journalist
Website	https://eurovolby2019.sk/kandidatka-do-europskeho-parlamentu-2019-lucia-duris-nicholsonova/, https://www.lucianicholsonova.sk/

Early career

Under her first married name of Lucia Nicholsonová she worked for at least ten media outlets in Slovakia, whereas her first husband, Tom Nicholson, was also a journalist, working for the Slovak newspaper SME and English-language newspaper The Slovak Spectator.^[2][3]

Political career

Career in national politics

Ďuriš Nicholsonová became a vice-chairwoman of the National Council in the 2016 elections and programme leader of the Freedom and Solidarity party for socially excluded communities. She has not dealt only with the social area but was also a loud and frequent critic of the government corruption scandals, including corrupted redistribution of euro-funds in agriculture or social and labour policies.^[4]

She remarried in June 2016,^[5] subsequently being known as Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová. She was part of a small delegation from the Slovak parliament to meet the Dalai Lama during his visit to Slovakia in October 2016.^[6]

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

In May 2019 Ďuriš Nicholsonová became one of the 14 Members of the European Parliament from Slovakia, as her political party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) has won 9.60% of votes, resulting in two mandates.^[7] In parliament, she is a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). On 18 July 2019 she was elected as chair of the EMPL Committee.^{[8][non-primary source needed]}

In addition to her committee assignments, Ďuriš Nicholsonová is part of the European Parliament Intergroup on Trade Unions.^[9]

In 2021, Ďuriš Nicholsonová left the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) to join the Renew Europe group in Parliament.^[10] She was subsequently reelected chair of the EMPL committee, winning 38 votes compared to runner-up Margarita de la Pisa Carrión who won 15 votes.^[11]

In 2023, Nicholsonová created the Jablko political party.^[12]

Political positions

Ďuriš Nicholsonová is well known for the reform she proposed as an opposition politician to improve living conditions of Romani people in Slovakia and prevent their further socio-economic exclusion, consisting of early pre-schooling for children from excluded communities and more effective, specialised and motivational social support and tailored assistance.^[13] She has focused on employment and social matters, including rights of persons with disabilities and active ageing, during her European election campaign and praised work–life balance incentives of the European Parliament.^[14]

Personal life

Ďuriš Nicholsonová has three children - son Dominik (1999) and daughter Lilly (2008) from her marriage with the journalist Tom Nicholson and another son Jakub (2016) from her second marriage to Peter Ďuriš. Following the end of her MEP mandate, the family chose to remain living in Brussels due to family becoming accustomed to the multicultural society of the city.^[15]

References

1. "Hlavná stránka / Archív / August 2016". zemavek.sk (in Slovak). n.d. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
2. Pacherová, Soňa (17 July 2010). "Slovenská žurnalistika trie biedu, novinári idú do politiky". pravda.sk (in Slovak). Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
3. Stoll, Renata (13 March 2000). "Culture Shock: Marrying an expat takes patience". The Slovak Spectator. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
4. "SaS hovorí o rabovaní eurofondov. Za tri roky som zažila veľa, tvrdí bývalá Matečnej zamestnankyňa". slovensko.hnonline.sk. 6 May 2019. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
5. "Nicholsonová: Čo s takým chlapom? Len mu povedať áno!". zenyvmeste.sk (in Slovak). 20 June 2016. Archived from the original on 13 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
6. "Dalai Lama visits Slovakia, meets president, university students". The Slovak Spectator. 17 October 2016. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
7. a.s, Petit Press (26 May 2019). "EP election in Slovakia: Official results confirm the victory of pro-EU forces". spectator.sme.sk. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
8. Press, EMPL Committee (18 July 2019). "Congratulations to Mrs Nicholsonova (ECR, SK) who has been elected Chair of the @EPSocialAffairs Committee. She will now Chair the committee to elect the four Vice-Chairs. @LNicholsonovapic.twitter.com/GUO1fGGjJo". @EPSocialAffairs. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
9. Intergroup on Trade Unions Archived 15 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament.
10. Mia Bartoloni (May 28, 2021), Movers & Shakers Archived 28 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine The Parliament Magazine.
11. Mia Bartoloni (June 18, 2021), Movers & Shakers Archived 24 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine The Parliament Magazine.
12. a.s, Petit Press. "Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová predstavila logo strany Jablko - SME Minúta". www.sme.sk (in Slovak). Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
13. "Ďalšie ministerstvo: Nicholsonová predstavila reformy osád". 13 November 2017. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
14. "Kandidátka do europarlamentu Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová o eurovoľbách". eurovolby2019.sk. 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
15. Biró, Marek (12 August 2024). "Kam zmizla Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová: Odišla z politiky a kúpila si koňa. Na Slovensko chodí len na dovolenku". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 12 August 2024.