  jill evans (born 8 may 1959) is plaid cymru member of the european parliament for wales and first vice president of the greensâeuropean free alliance group - the fourth largest in the european parliament. she is also chair of cnd cymru and she was president of plaid cymru until the position was abolished in 2013. in june 1999, she and fellow candidate eurig wyn were elected as the first meps in plaid cymru's history. she was re-elected to the european parliament in 2009. she is a member of the committee on the environment, public health and food safety and the delegation for relations with iraq. she deputises on the agriculture committee. she is also plaid cymru spokesperson for european and international issues. ==background== evans was born in ystrad rhondda, glamorgan. she was educated at bodringallt infants' and junior schools, ystrad, where her head-teacher was john haydn davies, conductor of treorci male voice choir. evans later attended tonypandy grammar school, the university of wales, aberystwyth where she gained a ba, and the polytechnic of wales, trefforest (now glamorgan university) where she earned an m.phil. she speaks both welsh and english, having learned the former as a second language in tonypandy gs being taught by penri jones, now a gwynedd county councillor. ==professional career== evans worked as a research assistant at the former polytechnic of wales where she also gained her m.phil. degree. she later worked for the national federation of women's institutes in wales for six years with the late rhiannon bevan. she continues to be an associate member of glamorgan wi. following her first election to public office, she took up the post of wales organiser for child - the infertility support network.  ==political career== evans has long been a political activist and community campaigner before being elected to public office. her political credits include * particip
1959_births Alumni_of_Aberystwyth_University Living_people MEPs_for_the_United_Kingdom_1999a2004 MEPs_for_the_United_Kingdom_2004a09 MEPs_for_the_United_Kingdom_2009a14 MEPs_for_the_United_Kingdom_2014a19 Members_of_the_European_Parliament_for_Welsh_constituencies People_from_Rhondda Plaid_Cymru_MEPs Plaid_Cymru_politicians Welsh-speaking_people