Evelyne Gebhardt (born 19 January 1954) is a German politician who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) from 1994 to 2022. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, part of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom. ...

. Her main interests are bio-ethics, consumer protection and citizens' rights.

Early life and education

Gebhardt was born in a suburb of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Her father was an industrial chimney sweeper and her mother worked as a translator for

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

. After graduating from Lycée Lamartine in 1972, Gebhardt became the first in her family to go to university. She studied at the

University Paris Diderot Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (french: Université Paris Diderot), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 197 ...

, the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

and the University of Stuttgart, studying linguistics, political science and political economy. She subsequently worked as a freelance translator, and moved to Germany in 1975. Since 1992 she has been Chair of the Working Group of Social-Democratic Women. After working in local politics with the SPD, she took out German nationality in 1993, which allowed her to stand for elected office. In 1999, Gebhardt was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit (with ribbon).

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–2022

In parliament, Gebhardt was a member of the

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) is a committee of the European Parliament. Work of the committee The committee is responsible for: * coordination at Community level of national legislation in the sphere of th ...

and of the parliament’s delegation for relations with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. She was also a substitute member for the

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is a committee of the European Parliament that is responsible for protecting civil liberties and human rights, as listed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. ...

and the Delegation for relations with the

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. In addition, she was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...

and of the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Union ...

. Gebhardt is best known for her role in shaping the controversial Services Directive in 2005 and 2006. The directive had aimed at opening up the European Single Market to competition amongst service providers but was, after much political pressure from mostly western and southern EU countries, subsequently watered down by the European Parliament. Gebhardt was parliamentary

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

for the directive and played an important role in facilitating an agreement with the European People's Party which allowed Parliament to pass the directive with a huge majority and thereby forcing EU governments to follow their line. Along with Kaja Kallas, Gebhardt served as rapporteur for the digital single market in 2016. From 2017 to 2019, Gebhardt served as one of the fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament under the leadership of Antonio Tajani. In November 2021, Gebhardt announced that she would resign from the European Parliament by February 2022.Nisa Khan (6 January 2022)
Movers and Shakers
''

The Parliament Magazine ''The Parliament Magazine'' is a monthly EU politics, policy and culture magazine. Its website, www.theparliamentmagazine.eu, is a forum for discussion on the latest developments in EU politics and policy, featuring regular contributions from pr ...

''.

Other activities

Europa-Union Deutschland Europa-Union Deutschland e.V. (EUD) is the German section of the Union of European Federalists (UEF). It is a non-partisan, interdenominational and independent non-governmental organization advocating federal Europe. EUD's youth organization, J ...

, Member of the Presidium * German Academy for Ethics in Medicine (AEM), Member * Association of Free Art Schools in Baden-Württemberg, Member of the Board of Trustees * Europa Zentrum Baden-Württemberg, Member of the Advisory Board *

Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie (Against Oblivion – For Democracy) is a German organization promoting diversity, tolerance and democratic participation, and opposing racism, prejudice and right-wing and left-wing extremism. It focuses in ...

, Member * Marie-Schlei-Verein, Member * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member

References

External links

*
Evelyne Gebhardt's Europarl profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebhardt, Evelyne 1954 births Living people Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs MEPs for Germany 1999–2004 MEPs for Germany 2004–2009 MEPs for Germany 2009–2014 MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 MEPs for Germany 2019–2024 20th-century women MEPs for Germany 21st-century women MEPs for Germany Politicians from Paris German translators University of Paris alumni University of Tübingen alumni University of Stuttgart alumni German expatriates in France