Elmar Brok was a permanent member of the European Parliament from 1980 to 2019 and therefore its longest-serving member. He was one of the best-known MEPs and for decades he was an EU reformer and one of the EU's leading foreign policy and economic experts. Elmar Brok (*1946) studied law and political science at the University of Edinburgh, among other universities. He then completed a radio traineeship and worked as a radio and newspaper journalist. In 1991 he became Senior Vice President Media Development at Bertelsmann AG and from 2011 to 2014 he worked as a consultant to the Bertelsmann Chairman. Elmar Brok becamea member of Junge Union at an early age and made a political career within CDU. In 1980 Brok became a member of the European Parliament. Since then he has also been a member of various committees, including the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the European Committee of the German Bundestag. Elmar Brok is a member of the EPP Executive Committee and Co-Chairman of the EPP Foreign Ministers as well as Vice-Chairman of the World Association of Christian Democratic Parties (CDI) and President of the European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW). He represents the European Parliament in the European Council's negotiations to create a genuine Economic and Monetary Union and was Sherpa for the 5-presidency paper and in the Brexit negotiations in 2016. From 1999 to 2007, he was chief rapporteur for the enlargement of the European Union and foreign policy spokesman for the EPP Group from 2009-2012. After almost 40 years as a Member of the European Parliament, he will no longer stand for election to the European Parliament in May 2019. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Austria and the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria as well as the Order of Merit "Grand Officer of Luxembourg". Since 2018 Elmar Brok has been honorary professor of the Eastern European Lesja Ukrainka National University Lutsk. Elmar Brok is a brilliant politician and a passionate European and his commitment is of an almost unimaginable diversity. "Born, married, European Parliament" is how Helmut Kohl is said to have summarised Elmar Broks' curriculum vitae.