Katrin Langensiepen (born 10 October 1979) is a German politician of the

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

who has been serving 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 ...

since the 2019 elections. Langensiepen is the first women Member of the European Parliament with a visible disability.

Political career

Before her election to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, Langensiepen had been serving as a member of the City Council of

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

. Langensiepen has called for reforms to the system of

sheltered workshop The term sheltered workshop refers to an organization or environment that employs people with disabilities separately from others, usually with exemptions from labor standards, including but not limited to the absence of minimum wage requirements. ...

s in Europe, which offer vocational training to people with disabilities. According to Langensiepen "in Germany, we are talking about 300,000 people working in the sheltered workshops for one euro average per hour".# In parliament, Langensiepen has since been serving on the

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion, free movement for workers and pensio ...

. In 2022, she also joined the Special Committee on the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In addition to her committee assignments, Langensiepen is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights, the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability and the European Parliament Intergroup on Cancer.

Other activities

Heinrich Böll Foundation The Heinrich Böll Foundation (german: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V., HBS) is a German, legally independent political foundation. Affiliated with the German Green Party, it was founded in 1997 when three predecessors merged. The foundation was n ...

, Member of the General AssemblyGeneral Assembly

. *

Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union The Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V. ("Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union") or NABU is a German non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to Conservation movement, conservation at home and abroad, including the protection of river ...

(NABU), Member * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member *

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, Member

References

External links

1979 births Living people MEPs for Germany 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for Germany Alliance 90/The Greens MEPs {{Germany-MEP-stub