Monica Semedo

Monica Semedo (born 15 June 1984) is a former Luxembourgish TV presenter and politician who currently serves as a Member of the European Parliament after being elected in 2019.

Political career
In parliament, Semedo has been serving as full member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and as substitute member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In 2020, she also joined the Committee on Petitions and the Committee on Culture and Education. Since January 2021 Monica Semedo is no longer a member of the democratic party and is now referred to as an “ Independent “ renew Europe member. Monica Semedo had been suspended from her duties for 15 days and deprived of her parliamentary allowances for the same period for moral harassment of her three parliamentary assistants. The three had quit together last year.

In addition to her committee assignments, Semedo is part of the Parliament's delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the MEPs Against Cancer group.

In February 2024, she returned to politics by joining Fokus (Luxembourg) as a candidate for the European elections in June. 

Personal life
Born in Luxembourg, Semedo is of Cape Verdean descent.

Harassment case
In 2020, three of her former assistants filed complaints for psychological harassment. The parliamentary president David Sassoli stated in January 2021 that the accusations were found to be legitimate, leading to the suspension in any parliamentary meetings of 15 days. An official from Sassoli’s cabinet, who declined to be named, said that an investigation by the chamber’s Committee on Harassment had taken evidence from alleged victims, witnesses and experts and documented allegations of “countless offences, insults, aggressive treatment, intimidation and attacks in public” by Semedo against three of her former assistants. “The report is very serious,” the official said.

When the case started, Claude Lamberty, General Secretary of the Democratic Party, announced that there will be no political consequences to fear for Monica Semedo. However, once the press released that it was a dossier of over 100 pages detailing claims from staff members over her management style, the party decided to convey a disciplinary committee to see whether she could be subject to sanctions form DP's side. To this, Monica Semedo resigned from the party and now sieges independently at the European Parliament.

In early 2022, Monica Semedo faced new harassment accusations for a fourth and new assistant. A European Parliament anti-harassment procedure has yet to determine whether these allegations are correct.