 He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Group of the Party of European Socialists, and became an MEP on 1 January 2007 with the accession of Romania to the European Union.Previously, Severin served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human rights in Belarus from 2005 to 2006.He was member of PACE from 1993 till 1997 and from 2003 till 2007.