Maria Badia i Cutchet



Maria Badia i Cutchet (born 13 May 1947 in Sant Quirze del Vallès, Barcelona province) is a Spanish politician from Catalonia who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2014. She is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), part of the Socialist Group.

In parliament, Badia served on the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education and the Committee on International Trade.

In addition to her committee assignments, Badia was a member of the Delegation for relations with the United States and a substitute for the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, and the Industry, Research, and Energy committee. She was also a member of the European Alliance Group at the European Committee of the Regions.

Early life and education
Cutchet studied English Philology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Career
Cutchet taught English at primary schools in Sabadell until 1984.

From 1985 until 1994, she served as the coordinator for the First Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC)-PSOE Secretariat. After that, she became the international relations coordinator for the PSOE, and then in 1996 became the Secretariat of the President of the Catalan Parliament. In 2000, she was elected to the board of the PSC, where she serves secretary for European and international policy - a role she was re-elected to in 2004 and 2008.

In 2004, she was elected to the parliament of the European Union, and was re-elected in 2009. In 2009, she was the top candidate for the PSC and was also elected vice president of the Group of Alliance of Socialist & Democrats.