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 Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from 1994 to 2022. She is a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

, part of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

. Her main interests are bio-ethics,

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

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, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. 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 film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

. 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, the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

and the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...

, 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 Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. Work of the committee The committee is responsible for: * Coordination at Community level of na ...

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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. She was also a substitute member for the

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

and the Delegation for relations with the

Korean Peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

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

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

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 Uni ...

. Gebhardt is best known for her role in shaping the controversial

Services Directive The Bolkestein directive or Services Directive, officially Services in the Internal Market Directive''2006/123/EC is a European Union law aiming at establishing a single market for services within the European Union (EU). Drafted under the le ...

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 Kaja Kallas (; born 18 June 1977) is an Estonian politician and diplomat. She was the first female prime minister of Estonia, a role she held from 2021 until 2024, when she resigned in advance of her appointment as High Representative of the ...

, 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 There are fourteen vice-presidents of the European Parliament who sit in for the president in presiding over the plenary of the European Parliament. Role Vice-presidents are members of the Bureau Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organiza ...

under the leadership of

Antonio Tajani Antonio Tajani (; born 4 August 1953) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs since 22 October 2022. He served as President of the Europe ...

. 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, 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, 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