Lauristin Marju

Marju Lauristin is an Estonian Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the Group of Socialists and Democrats. She has an academic career in social sciences and has been Professor at Tartu University since 1995. Ms Lauristin’s political career started in 1988 as one of the establishing members of ‘Rahvarinne’, the first large-scale independent political movement in Estonia since the beginning of the Soviet occupation. She has thereafter been Chairman of the Estonian Social Democratic Party, deputy Speaker of the Estonian Parliament, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia, and Member of the Estonian Parliament. Currently she is an active Member of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee at the European Parliament.