Pat Cox

For the Canadian-British fashion designer, see Patrick Cox. For the American HIV/AIDS activist, see Spencer Cox (activist).

Patrick Cox (born 28 November 1952) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician, journalist and television current affairs presenter who served as President of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004 and Leader of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group from 1998 to 2002. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Munster constituency from 1989 to 2004 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork South-Central from 1992 to 1994.^[1]

Pat Cox
President of the European Parliament
In office 15 January 2002 – 20 July 2004
Vice President	Gérard Onesta
Preceded by	Nicole Fontaine
Succeeded by	Josep Borrell
Leader of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group
In office 1 June 1998 – 15 January 2002
Preceded by	Gijs de Vries
Succeeded by	Graham Watson
Member of the European Parliament
In office 25 July 1989 – 20 July 2004
Constituency	Munster
Teachta Dála
In office November 1992 – June 1994
Constituency	Cork South-Central
Personal details
Born	Patrick Cox (1952-11-28) 28 November 1952 (age 70) Dublin, Ireland
Political party	Fine Gael
Other political affiliations	Progressive Democrats (1985–1994) ELDR (1994–2004)
Spouse	Cathy Cox (m. 1987)
Children	6
Education	Ardscoil Rís
Alma mater	University of Limerick Trinity College Dublin

Cox was a presenter with RTÉ's Today Tonight.

Early and personal life

Cox was born in Dublin in 1952, but raised in Limerick. He was then educated at Ardscoil Rís in Limerick, the University of Limerick and Trinity College Dublin. He is married to Cathy, and lived at Ashboro, Shanakiel in the Cork north side suburb of Sunday's Well for 16 years.^[2]

Early career

Cox first came to prominence as a journalist, then a presenter with RTÉ's Today Tonight, a four-nights-a-week current affairs programme which dominated the Irish television schedules in the 1980s. He left the programme to become a political candidate.

Political career

Career in national politics

Cox stood as a Fianna Fáil candidate at the 1979 local elections.^[3]

Member of the European Parliament, 1989–2004

Cox was elected an MEP in 1989 for the constituency of Munster, representing the Progressive Democrats (PDs).^[4] During his first term, he served on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy.

At the 1992 general election, Cox was also elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for Cork South-Central.^[5] Following Desmond O'Malley's retirement from the party leadership in 1993, Cox stood for election to the post but was beaten by Mary Harney. He became deputy leader.

Cox left the PDs in May 1994 in a dispute over his seat as an MEP.^[6] It was expected that Cox would not contest his seat in the 1994 European elections, and Des O'Malley, who had a large Munster base in Limerick city and County Limerick, was selected as the party candidate. However, Cox then decided to contest the seat as an independent, beating O'Malley. On being elected, he resigned his Dáil seat and a by-election was held on 10 November 1994, which was won by Fine Gael. He subsequently served on the Committee on Institutional Affairs from 1994 until 1997 and on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy from 1997 until 1999. In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the Parliament's delegation for relations with South Africa.

When incumbent Gijs de Vries stepped down to enter the government of Prime Minister Wim Kok of the Netherlands,^[7] Cox was elected president of the ELDR group in the European Parliament in 1998, becoming the first Irishman to lead a political group in the Parliament.^[8] He subsequently played a key role in the fall of the Santer Commission by consistently – and loudly – calling for the Commissioners to resign.^[9]

Cox was unanimously re-elected Group President in June 1999, following his re-election as an MEP at the 1999 European Parliament election. He resigned this post when he became President of the European Parliament on 15 January 2002, in accordance with an agreement between the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and the ELDR groups at the start of the term (in the customary two-way split of the five-year Presidency of the European Parliament). He succeeded the Frenchwoman Nicole Fontaine.^[10] At his first press conference following his election as president he spoke positively of direct talks between the Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktaş.^[11]

In July 2003, Cox took a personal telephone apology from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, after Berlusconi managed to offend several MEPs.^[12] The controversy arose after Berlusconi compared a German MEP to a Nazi concentration camp commandant.^[13][14][15]

Cox did not contest the 2004 elections to the European parliament. The Christian Democrats (European People's Party – EPP) and Socialist Groups agreed at the customary two-way split of the Presidency of the European Parliament. Josep Borrell Fontelles, a Spanish Socialist, assumed the Presidency on 20 July 2004, holding it until 15 January 2007.

Later career

Cox is a member of the Comite d'Honneur of the Institute of European Affairs. In 2006, he was elected President of European Movement, an international pro-European lobby association. In June 2009, Pat Cox temporarily stepped down as president and took over the position of the campaign director for the pro-Lisbon treaty initiative Ireland for Europe.^[16] He resigned as president of European Movement in May 2013.

Also in 2009, Cox co-founded the European Privacy Association.^[17]

On 15 September 2010, Cox supported the new initiative Spinelli Group, which was founded to reinvigorate the drive toward federalisation of the European Union (EU). Other prominent supporters include Jacques Delors, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Andrew Duff and Elmar Brok.

In June 2011 Irish media reported that Cox, who had previously said he wanted to stand as an independent candidate in 2011's Irish presidential election, was seeking to join Fine Gael to get the party's nomination.^[18] Fine Gael's national executive on 16 June 2011 approved his application to join the party's St Luke's branch in Cork.^[19] In July 2011, Gay Mitchell became the Fine Gael candidate.^[20] Before that, Cox was "pleased" to help prepare Fine Gael's first-100-day strategy after it won the 2011 general election.^[21]

Between 2012 and 2014, Cox and Aleksander Kwaśniewski led a European Parliament monitoring mission in Ukraine to monitor the criminal cases against Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Lutsenko and Valeriy Ivaschenko.^[22][23]

Other activities

International organizations

• European Investment Bank (EIB), Member of the Appointment Advisory Committee (since 2017)^[24]

Corporate boards

• Appian Asset Management, Member of the Board^[25]
• Ecocem, Member of the Board,^[26] Chair of the Board (since 2021)^[27]
• European Integration Solutions LLC, Managing Partner (since 2005)^[28]
• KPMG, Chairman of the Public Interest Committee^[29]
• Liberty Global, Member of the European Advisory Council
• Michelin, Member of the supervisory board (since 2005)^[30]

Non-profit organizations

• Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), Member of the Board^[31]
• Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe, President (since 2015)
• Yalta European Strategy (YES), Member^[32]
• European Movement International, President (2005–2011)

Recognition

On 20 May 2004, Cox was awarded the Charlemagne Prize (Karlspreis) for his achievements with regard to the enlargement of the European Union and for his work in promoting greater EU democratisation.

In addition, he is a recipient a Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

References

1. "Pat Cox - Personally Speaking Bureau". from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
2. "Pat's campaign to swap Cork for capital". The Irish Times. 2 September 2010. from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
3. Cullen, Paul (7 June 2011). "Pat Cox applies to join Fine Gael". The Irish Times. from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
4. "Pat Cox". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
5. "Pat Cox". Oireachtas Members Database. from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
6. Hogan, Dick (14 May 1994). "Cox accepts his resignation will damage the PDs". The Irish Times. p. 8. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
7. Local hero 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine European Voice, 14 April 1999,
8. Martin Banks (16 January 2002), The rise and rise of the Munster marvel 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine European Voice, 14 April 1999.
9. Martin Banks (16 January 2002), The rise and rise of the Munster marvel 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine European Voice, 14 April 1999.
10. "Irishman Pat Cox Elected President of European Parliament"^{[dead link]}. Xinhua News Agency. 15 January 2002.
11. "European Parliament head welcomes direct talks on Cyprus" 28 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Cyprus News Agency, Nicosia. 16 January 2002.
12. Silvio Berlusconi "expresses his regret" to Pat Cox for "expressions and comparisons" used in parliamentary debate last week^{[dead link]}. 8 July 2003.
13. "Cox says Berlusconi comment distracting EU" 22 December 2003 at the Wayback Machine. RTÉ. 5 July 2003.
14. "In EU debut Italian leader insults German". U.S. St. Petersburg Times (Florida). 3 July 2003.
15. "PM not sorry for "ironic" remark". Television New Zealand. 5 July 2003. from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
16. Ireland for Europe – Pat Cox steps down as President of the European Movement International 16 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. 22 June 2009.
17. Tomas Vanheste (10 October 2013). "Hoe een machtige lobby onze privacy onder druk zet". De Correspondent (in Dutch). from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
18. Pat Cox applies to join Fine Gael, Irish Times, Dublin, 7 June 2011 24 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine.Retrieved: 7 November 2011
19. "Pat Cox becomes member of Fine Gael". RTÉ News. 15 June 2011. from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
20. De Bréadún, Deaglán (9 July 2011). "Mitchell chosen as FG candidate". The Irish Times. from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
21. Stephen Collins and Mary Minihan. "Cox helping Fine Gael prepare for first 100 days in office" 5 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine. The Irish Times. 24 February 2011.
22. Ukraine welcomes prolongation of Cox-Kwasniewski mission until fall, says Kozhara 23 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Interfax-Ukraine (18 April 2013)
    Cox-Kwasniewski mission to visit Ukraine in late March, planning to visit Tymoshenko 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Interfax-Ukraine (19 March 2013)
23. Simon Carswell (26 February 2018), Pat Cox willing to assist Mueller investigation if asked 26 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine Irish Times.
24. Appointment of the Members of the Appointment Advisory Committee 13 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine European Investment Bank (EIB), press release of 6 February 2017.
25. Pat Cox 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine KPMG.
26. Pat Cox 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine KPMG.
27. Nisa Khan (September 16, 2021), Movers & Shakers 18 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine The Parliament Magazine.
28. Pat Cox for board of Michelin 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine Irish Independent, 24 March 2005.
29. Pat Cox 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine KPMG.
30. Pat Cox for board of Michelin 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine Irish Independent, 24 March 2005.
31. Pat Cox 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine KPMG.
32. Board 15 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine Yalta European Strategy (YES).

External links

• European Parliament Former President Pages – Cox
• Personal profile of Pat Cox in the European Parliament's database of members
• Pat Cox in 'Politicians' file at Limerick City Library, Ireland

Political offices
Preceded by Nicole Fontaine	President of the European Parliament 2002–2004	Succeeded by Josep Borrell