| Olga Zrihen Zaari | |
| Office: | Senator |
| Term Start: | 28 June 2007 |
| Term End: | June 2011 |
| Birth Date: | 10 January 1953 |
| Birth Place: | Casablanca (Morocco) |
| Nationality: | Belgian (formerly French), Moroccan |
| Party: | Parti Socialiste |
| Residence: | La Louvière |
Olga Zrihen (Arabic: أولجا زريهان; Casablanca, January 10, 1953[1]) is a Moroccan-born Belgian politician and a member of the Parti Socialiste.
Zrihen was born to a Jewish family in Casablanca, Morocco. At the age of 6, her family moved to Lille, France.[2] Due to this, she also has a French passport, and had a degree in Germanic languages from the University of Mons-Hainaut, today the University of Mons.[3] [4] Zrihen worked as a teacher of German and English between 1976 and 1991.[1]
Zrihen was elected to the municipal council of La Louvière, Belgium in the municipal elections in October 2000, by then as a French citizen. She was re-elected in 2006, and became deputy mayor in 2007.[5]
She became a member of the European Parliament in April 2001,[6] not reelected in June 2004, this time after having acquired Belgian citizenship. A few months later though, she was coopted to the Belgian Senate to replace Philippe Busquin, who was elected to the European Parliament, and in 2007, she was elected to it.[7] She is a member of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians[8] and in March 2002, she supported an appeal in favour of Israeli membership of the European Union.[9] [10]
Elected in 2009 as a member of the Regional Parliament of Wallonia, Zrihen replaced Joëlle Kapompolé as a senator for the Walloon community until 2014. She was also the vice-president of the Parti Socialiste between 2011 and 2014.[5]
She has been awarded with the Order of Leopold twice, once in 2007 as a Chevalier, and in 2014 as an Officier.[2]