Elmar Brok

Elmar Brok during an EPP summit in 2010

Elmar Brok (born 14 May 1946, Verl, Westphalia) is a German Member of the European Parliament and the current Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was elected on the CDU ticket and sits with the European People's Party group. An MEP since 1980, he has held many leadership positions in German and European politics. As a member of the Convention on the Constitution for Europe and in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Mr Brok contributed crucially to the Constitution of the European Union.

Positions in the European Parliament

• Member since 1980
• Member of the fraction of the European Peoples Party and European Democrats (member of the board of directors)
• Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (1999–2007, again since 2012)
• Substitute member of the Subcommittees on Security and Defence (SEDE) and Constitutional Affairs (AFCO)
• Co-Chair of the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue
• Member of the EP-Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China
• Substitute Member of the delegation for the relations with the United States
• Substitute member of the EP-Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Curriculum Vitae

Brok studied law and politics in Germany and at the Centre for European Governmental Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Formerly, he worked as a radio journalist and newspaper correspondent.

He has held numerous leadership positions for the Christian Democratic Party in Germany, including Deputy Federal Chairman of the Junge Union (CDU youth section) (1973–1981), Chairman of the CDU Federal Committee on Foreign and Security Policy (1989–1999), CDU District Chairman of Ostwestfalen-Lippe (since 1996), Secretary of the CDU Land Executive of North Rhine-Westphalia (since 1996), Chairman of the CDU Federal Committee on European policy (since 1999), Assistant Chairman of the International Democrat Union (since 1991), Deputy Chairman of the European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (since 1991), and Chairman of the European Union of Christian Democratic Workers.

He has also held several leadership positions in the European Parliament, including Member of the European People’s Party (EPP) Political Bureau, Member of the EPP Group Bureau, Coordinator in the European Parliament committees on social affairs, drugs and German unity, European Parliament Representative on the Council's Reflection Group for Maastricht II, European Parliament Representative at the Intergovernmental Conference on the Treaty of Amsterdam, European Parliament Representative at the 2000 Intergovernmental Conference, and EPP coordinator in the European Convention.

Until May 2011, he was Senior Vice President for Media Development at Bertelsmann. According to information broadcasted by German media his activities as lobbyist of Bertelsmann were also scrutinized by the EU Commission. According to journalist Lutz Mükke (2005) Brok used his influence to ban Hajo Friedrich, who published a critical article concerning Brok's muddy activities, from the political ressort of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl once sarcastically summarized Brok's CV: "born, married, MEP." In an interview with the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung, Brok reflected his activities and stated that for him politics was not profession, but hobby. Accordingly, critics of Brok call him a "hobbyist".^{[citation needed]}

On 15 September 2010, Brok supported the new initiative Spinelli Group in the European Parliament, which was founded to reinvigorate the strive for federalisation of the European Union (EU).

Femen Incident in Brussels

On March 21, 2013 in Brussels, at the European Parliament, "sextremist" Alexandra Shevchenko made a topless attack against Elmar Brok. According to Femen, Brok actively used services of Ukrainian prostitutes and gave disrespectful comments to Ukrainian women, during his visits in the country. Following and watching after the deputy, the activist came to meet him with the battle scream "Ukraine is not a brothel". After the fight, one of Femen activist could leave the place but Sasha Shevchenko was arrested by police officers.

Honours

• Federal Cross of Merit (First Class)
• Grand Golden Decoration of the Republic of Austria
• Order of Grand Officer of Luxembourg
• Commander, Order of St. Gregory (appointed by Pope John Paul II, November 2002)
• Member, Oxford Council on Good Governance
• Alois Mock Prize for the European of the Year, Austria 2003
• "MEP of the Year for 2003" awarded by European Voice following a Europe-wide vote

External links

• Wikipedia Germany about Elmar Brok
• Brok´s official webpage from the European Parliament
• Elmar Brok´s webpage (German)
• "Der Parlaments-Broker" (Article published in German) Elmar Brok ist nicht nur ein mächtiger Europa-Parlamentarier, sondern auch Bertelsmann-Lobbyist ... ("Elmar Brok - influential MEP and Bertelsmann lobbyist ...") Von Lutz Mükke, in: message 4/2005, 10 July 2005
• "Politik ist keine Arbeit, sondern Hobby" (Interview with the German newspaper "Die Tageszeitung" ("Politics isn't profession but hobby for me") 24 December 2004
• Spinelli Group
• Union of European Federalists
• Website femen.org on the attack against Brok
• Statement of the EU Delegation to Ukraine on the personal attack of a FEMEN activist against MEP Elmar Brok