Dr. Katarina Barley

Dr Katarina Barley is Vice-President of the European Parliament and a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and a substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. She stood as the top candidate of her party, the SPD, in the European elections in May 2019. Previously, she was a member of the German Bundestag from 2013 to 2019, during which time she served as SPD Secretary General, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Executive Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, and Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection, among other positions. Before her time in politics, the lawyer worked as a lawyer, research assistant at the Federal Constitutional Court and as a judge at the Trier Regional Court and Wittlich Local Court. Social justice, democracy and the rule of law as well as a social Europe are core themes of Katarina Barley's politics.