Political groups

2007-2009: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
2009-2019: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)

National parties

2007-2015: Union pour un Mouvement Populaire
2015-2018: Les Républicains
2018-2019: Indépendant

Biography

Élisabeth Morin-Chartier was born in Ceaux-en-Couhé. A historian by training, she had a university career before entering politics: she was a Professor of Geography from 1970 to 1985 and worked for the Rectorate of the Academy of Poitiers from 1984 to 1985, where she was first responsible for the renovation of colleges and later for cultural actions. She also held the positions of Deputy Director of the Regional Centre for Educational Documentation, Poitiers (1985-1988), and Director-General of the French National Center for Distance Education Futuroscope (1988-1995).

From 1995 to 1997, she was a temporary expert and then an Academy Inspector (1997-2001) responsible for the national training of surveyors from the Academy and Prospectors at the Higher School of National Education. Afterwards, she held the position of General Inspector of the National Education and Research Administration for the Southeast Group of France (Lyon Academies, Grenoble, Aix-Marseille, Nice and Corsica) from 2001 to 2010.

Morin-Chartier started her political career as a regional councillor in Poitou-Charentes (1998-2010). She became First Vice-President (1999-2002), then President (2002-2004) of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council and the Councillor of Poitiers Municipal Council from 2001 to 2007. From 2004 to 2007, she was a member of the Economic and Social Council.

She became a Member of the European Parliament in 2007 following the resignation of Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, who was appointed to the government. She continued to work for twelve years as an MEP after her re-election in 2009. As First Quaestor of the European Parliament, she was Chair of the Committee on Combating Harassment, which put in place a process for investigating complaints and sanctions against MEPs — a new measure in a European institution. She was also Vice-Chair of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, which enabled her to work actively for equal pay and career equality, and for the reconciliation of family and working life for women and men.

Élisabeth Morin-Chartier speaks at an European Parliament press point on Parliament's actions against harassment © European Union 2018 - European Parliament

In line with her mandate as a Member of the European Parliament, she was President of the NGO 'European Union of Women', set up in 1953 to fight for women’s rights and democracy in Europe. She is now the Honorary President of the organisation and continues to fight for women’s rights.

She has drawn up a wide number of reports on topics such as the Posted Workers Directive and the European Social Fund, which was drawn up with the aim of increasing the amount of the initial pre-financing paid to programmes supported by the Youth Employment Initiative. She also drew up a report on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on seafarers.

Finally, she also participated as shadow rapporteur for her parliamentary group in the legislative proposal for Erasmus+ and other tools to foster mobility in vocational education and training - a lifelong learning approach. 

For more information on her time as an MEP, click here.

Selected plenary speeches

On 10 February 2015, Élisabeth Morin-Chartier spoke at the plenary session in Strasbourg in her capacity as a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs during a debate on the European Youth Initiative. In her speech, she called for an increase in funding to promote greater mobility for young jobseekers from regions with high levels of unemployment:

On 29 May 2018, Élisabeth Morin-Chartier spoke at the plenary session in Strasbourg in her capacity as rapporteur for a proposal for a directive on the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services. As a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, she defended the principle of "equal pay for equal work" in the same workplace, which she saw as an issue of social justice and equality between workers throughout the European Union:

On 4 April 2019, Élisabeth Morin-Chartier spoke at the plenary session in Brussels in her capacity as a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs during a debate on work-life balance for parents and carers. In particular, she welcomed the progress made towards greater professional equality between women and men: 

What's in the archives?

The fonds of Élisabeth Morin-Chartier are organised into three major sections that cover her activity as member of parliamentary committees, her political activity in her constituency and as member of the Group of the European People's Party, and her activity as a public figure.

In terms of parliamentary activity, the most important files are those relating to her activity as a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (Posted Workers Directive, European Social Fund, Electromagnetic Fields Directive, migration) and as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (protection of pregnant women, women and the pension system, women and the economic crisis).

The files on her political activity are organised into two sub-groups:

• relations with the French constituency at local and departmental level;
• activities in the Group of the European People's Party: meetings, publications, correspondence.

Finally, the third major section illustrates Élisabeth Morin-Chartier's activity as a public figure: appearance in the press, participation in various events, presence in social networks, contributions to books and articles.