Career in national politics A member of the
National Liberal Party (PNL), and a member of the
European Peoples Party, Vălean was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies on the
Justice and Truth list for
Călărași County (during the
2004 elections).
Member of the European Parliament, 2007–2019 Vălean became a
Member of the European Parliament on 1 January 2007, with the
accession of Romania to the European Union. Throughout her time in parliament, she served on the
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy; in 2019, she became the committee's chairwoman. During her time on the committee, she was the Parliament's
rapporteur for the
Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) From 2014 to 2017, Vălean was one of the
Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament under the leadership of President
Antonio Tajani; in that capacity, she was in charge of
information and communications technology (ICT). She also chaired the
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety from 2017 until 2019 and served on the
Committee on Petitions from 2009 until 2014. In addition to her committee assignments, Vălean was part of the Parliaments delegations with the countries of
Southeast Europe (2007–2009); the
Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (2009–2014); and the
United States (since 2014). She was also a member of the
Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue (TLD); and the European Parliament Intergroup on Long Term Investment and Reindustrialisation.
European Commissioner for Transport, 2019–2024 In November 2019, the center-right government under
Prime Minister Ludovic Orban put Vălean and
Siegfried Mureșan forward as candidates to be the country's next
European Commissioner. Vălean was subsequently picked to be the
European Commissioner for Transport by
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Member of the European Parliament, 2024–present In the
2024 European elections, Vălean was re-elected to the European Parliament. In order to fulfil her mandate, she resigned from her position as EU Commissioner on 15 July 2024. Her duties were temporarily taken over by
Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner for Climate Action. ==Personal life==