Birgit Sippel
Birgit Sippel is a member of the European Parliament and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). She became Coordinator of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) Group in LIBE after her re-election in 2014.
In the LIBE committee, Sippel has been involved in privacy and data protection issues such as the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme and Passenger Name Record data (PNR). She is also involved in the EU asylum policy, migration, and has supported the advancement of police and judicial cooperation at the EU level (Area of Freedom, Security and Justice) through adoption of directives on procedural safeguards.
Sippel also serves on the Delegation for Relations with the Mashreq countries and as a substitute member in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. Since 2017, she has been a member of the Special Committee on Terrorism.
Sippel’s political career began in 1982 when she joined the Socialist Youth of Germany, ‘Die Falken’. She joined the Social-Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) the same year, and was soon involved in the local party branch in Neheim. In 1983, she became member of the German Industrial Union of Metalworkers (IG Metall), in which she served as employee representative. From 1994 to 2004, she served as member of the city council of Arnsberg for the SPD. Apart from her commitment at local level, Sippel was member of the SPD's Federal Party Council from 1996 to 2010 and, since 2010, has been member of the party's council and presidium in the federal state of North Rhine-Westfalia.