The unlikely new lawmakers in the EU parliament

Ushers prepare the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, on the eve of the inaugural European Parliament session, on July 15, 2024. [AFP]

A new crop of EU lawmakers will join more familiar faces in the European Parliament this week, including influencers, activists and even a former jockey.

They are among the 720 MEPs elected by EU citizens in June.

Here AFP takes a closer look at some of the more unusual representatives heading to the parliament based in Strasbourg, France:

Fidias Panayiotou

When Cypriot YouTuber Fidias Panayiotou, 24, first entertained the idea of becoming an EU lawmaker, even his own family thought his bid would be unsuccessful.

"I asked him to stop, not to try, because he will fail," his mother Irene Panayiotou said in a video on his YouTube account that has more than 2.6 million subscribers.

"The whole family didn't receive it very well," he said.

Around six months later, the prankster had the last laugh.

More famous for giving tech billionaire Elon Musk a hug, he has admitted having no political experience but has opted for an unorthodox way of representing voters.

In one of his most recent posts, he asked people to tell him whether he should vote for Ursula von der Leyen to get a second mandate as European Commission president.

He even decided he would remain an independent lawmaker after asking his followers whether he should join a group.

Panayiotou sparked controversy last year when he travelled around Japan, avoiding paying for transport and restaurants, and even begging.

He later publicly apologised.

Nina Carberry

Newly elected Irish MEP and former jockey Nina Carberry, 39, is no stranger to racing but now she's swapped real horses for political horse-trading.

One of Ireland's most successful women jockeys, Carberry quit the saddle in 2018 and since then has gone on to dazzle with her footwork on Dancing With The Stars Ireland, which she won in 2022.

Despite being described by some Irish media as the "dark horse", she is now an EU lawmaker for one of Ireland's main parties, Fine Gael. The party belongs to the biggest political grouping in parliament, the conservative EPP.

Just two weeks before the June 7 election, Carberry explained why she wanted to enter politics, with images including her two young daughters.

"From watching my own kids grow up, I realise I want to do more than just hope for a brighter future. I want to shape it," she said in a video on social media.

Having grown up on a farm, it comes as no surprise that she has insisted agriculture will be at the top of her list of priorities, echoing the EPP's focus after mounting anger from farmers.

"I will fight for Irish farmers and fishers, the backbone of our rural communities," she has said.

Lena Schilling

Before her election as a Green MEP, 23-year-old Austrian climate activist Lena Schilling said her goal was to "go where the laws are made".

She first shot to public attention as the face of Greta Thunberg's Fridays For Future school protests in Austria.

She was also the leading figure of a youth organisation blocking works in 2021 for a street tunnel near Vienna, where activists camped for more than a year.

Schilling has said she grew up around Vienna's leftist circles and was raised in a family where political discussions were normal.

She has already dealt with her fair share of controversy.

Austrian and German media reported recently that Schilling appeared to consider joining The Left after the election.

She responded by acknowledging that entering politics would always be difficult.

"It was always clear to me that going from being an activist with connections to various political camps to being a Green candidate was not going to be easy."

Ilaria Salis

With just weeks to go before the June vote, Italian anti-fascist activist Ilaria Salis went on trial in Hungary, accused of attacking neo-Nazis.

She was only given her freedom after gaining immunity as an MEP, meaning she could return home.

Her case had been front-page news in Italy after Salis appeared in court in January handcuffed and chained, with her feet shackled.

The 40-year-old had been arrested in Budapest in 2023 following a counter-demonstration against a neo-Nazi rally.

The former literature teacher from northern Italy also supports taking over empty housing and will represent the Green and Left Alliance party.

Carola Rackete

Driven to politics by the "threat" from the right, Carola Rackete will now chart a different course to represent Germany's far-left after steering migrant rescue vessels.

She defied authorities in 2019 as captain of the Sea-Watch 3 when she docked on the island of Lampedusa with dozens of migrants on board despite being refused permission.

Rackete began her career as a navigation officer on scientific expeditions. After earning a master's degree in conservation management, she shifted her focus to environmental work as well as volunteering in migrant rescue.

Her activism has taken many forms.

In 2020, she was among activists who occupied part of a central German forest in a bid to prevent the felling of trees for the construction of a stretch of motorway.

She told AFP she opted for the far-left rather than the Greens because it was "important to recognise that environmental problems arise because of unjust social and political conditions".