Cornelia Ernst (born 30 November 1956) is a German politician and

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

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. She is a member of

The Left Party The Left (german: Die Linke; stylised as and in its logo as ), commonly referred to as the Left Party (german: Die Linkspartei, links=no ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of th ...

, part of the

European United Left–Nordic Green Left European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

. She was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

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 ...

in 2009, prior to which she had been a member of the Parliament of Saxony from 1998. From 2007 till 2009 she had been the regional chairman of the Left Party in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. On 15 February 2014 she got voted on place 3 of the group of nominated candidates of the Left party for the European Parliament and was re-elected to the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Life and work

After

graduating Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is al ...

from secondary school in 1974 and her entry into the

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed wa ...

she finished her degree/diploma in education science in 1979. Ernst got her PhD in 1983 at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

with the thesis on ''"Zur Geschichte des Internationalen Frauentages in der Übergangsperiode vom Kapitalismus zum Sozialismus auf dem Gebiet der DDR (1945/46 - 1961)" (English: The history of the

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

in the transition period from capitalism to socialism on the territory of the GDR (1945/46 - 1961)'' and was a teachers trainer at the departement for teachers training in

Großenhain Großenhain (also written as Grossenhain; hsb, Wulki Hojn) is a Große Kreisstadt (German for major district town) in the district of Meissen, Saxony, Germany. It was originally known as Hayne. The current name simply means "big Hayne" History ...

Political career

From 1991 until 1999 Ernst had been a parliamentary advisor for the state parliamentary group of the

PDS PD, P.D., or Pd may refer to: Arts and media * ''People's Democracy'' (newspaper), weekly organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) * ''The Plain Dealer'', a Cleveland, Ohio, US newspaper * Post Diaspora, a time frame in the ''Honorverse'' ...

in Saxony and substitute chairman of the PDS in Saxony. She became a Member of the Parliament of Saxony in 1998. In November 2001 Ernst got elected as chairman, as successor of Peter Porsch. After the merger of WASG and PDS forming the party DIE LINKE she got elected as chairman of the state association of DIE LINKE in Saxony. In state parliament she was a member of the committee for Home Affairs and a member of the committee for Constitutional, Legal and European Affairs. As local politician she also was a member of the City Council in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. Since 2009 Ernst is a Member of European Parliament. In her first term she was on the board of the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left, a member of the ''Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs'', a substitute on the ''Committee on Regional Development'' and the ''Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality'' and a Member of the Delegation for relations with Iran. After the reelection in 2014 she stayed in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and became a substitute on the ''Committee on Industry, Research and Energy''. Additionally to the Iran delegation she became a Member of the Delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo.European Parliament
/ref> And got elected as the speaker of the German Delegation of Left party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernst, Cornelia 1956 births Living people People from Oder-Spree People from Bezirk Frankfurt Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) politicians The Left (Germany) politicians Members of the Landtag of Saxony The Left (Germany) MEPs MEPs for Germany 2009–2014 MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 MEPs for Germany 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for Germany German socialist feminists