Baby’s growing up... and taking a shine to politics: The MEP who brings her daughter to Parliament

When Vittoria Ronzulli first put in an appearance at the European Parliament she was just a few weeks old and slept through the proceedings.

Yesterday she returned for a second visit and bounced around on the desk of her MEP mother Licia looking as if she might be developing a taste for politics.



Attending a session in Strasbourg on International Women’s Day, Mrs Ronzulli, 35, again took advantage of European parliamentary rules that allow women to bring their babies to work with them.



Politically active: Vittoria Ronzuilli looks alert as her MEP mother Licia attends the session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg

In September of last year Mrs Ronzulli first took her child into the Parliament building

Thankfully for the Italian MEP’s colleagues, proceedings weren’t disrupted by any gargles or crying from the gallery as seven-month-old Victoria sat quietly in her mother’s lap.



The tot appeared engrossed in her mother’s pink Blackberry phone at one point as Mrs Ronzulli checked her e-mails and Vittoria’s immaturity for politics only showed when it was time for MEPs to vote.

Chewing on a biscuit, the baby looked thoroughly bored with her surroundings.

Mrs Ronzulli won her seat in elections in 2009 and is a member of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party. She is from the Lombardy region of northern Italy and won her seat with 40,000 votes.



Victoria was born on August 10 and her father Renato Ceriolo is also a member of People of Freedom.

You've got an important email Mum: The baby looks concerned at the latest message on her mother's Blackberry

This is a bit dull: Vittoria and her mother seem disinterested as members take part in a voting session

Vittoria was pictured sleeping at just one month old during a parliamentary session in Strasbourg last year as her mother sought to draw attention to the challenges faced by working mothers.

'It’s bizarre,' she said of the media attention she received last year. 'We’ve been doing a lot, a lot of work in the European parliament and there was no interest in the press. Then I come with my baby and everybody wants to interview me.



'It was not a political gesture. It was first of all a maternal gesture - that I wanted to stay with my daughter as much as possible, and to remind people that there are women who do not have this opportunity [to bring their children to work], that we should do something to talk about this.'