Michael Gahler | |
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| Member of the European Parliament | |
| Assumed office 1 July 1999 | |
| Constituency | Germany |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1960-04-22)22 April 1960 (age 65) |
| Party |  German:Christian Democratic Union  EU:European People's Party |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
Michael Gahler (born 22 April 1960) is a German diplomat and politician who has been serving as aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) since the1999 election. He is a member of theChristian Democratic Union, part of theEuropean People's Party.
Gahler studied inMainz andDijon (1981–87) before training as a lawyer. He joined theFederal Foreign Office in 1990, where he served under ministersHans-Dietrich Genscher,Klaus Kinkel andJoschka Fischer. While in the diplomatic service, he worked on international environmental policy (1991–93) and Germany's bilateral relations with theBaltic states and theCouncil of the Baltic Sea States. Between 1993 and 1995, he was seconded to work for the CDU party headquarters in Bonn.
Gahler has been a politician since 1986, when he won a seat on the city council ofHattersheim.
Gahler was elected to the European Parliament in the1999 elections.
Gahler is Vice-President of theCommittee on Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, he is also a member the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), which oversees the Parliament's election observation missions.[1] In addition, he serves on theSubcommittee on Human Rights.
In addition to his committee assignments, Gahler is a member of the Parliament's delegations to theACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the one for relations withIran. During his first term in parliament, he also served as his parliamentary group'srapporteur on Iran.[2] In 2014, he was elected chairman of the delegation for relations with thePan-African Parliament.[3]
Gahler is also a member of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), which oversees the Parliament's election observation missions.[4] He headed the EU Election Observation Mission during the2011 election for a constituent assembly, the first vote in after theTunisian revolution.[5] He later led the EU-Election Observer Mission for thegeneral election in Pakistan in 2013.
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Gahler serves as rapporteur on Commission's communication on defence and as a member of the High-level Group of Personalities on Defence Research chaired byElżbieta Bieńkowska.[6] In addition, he is as a member of the European Parliament's Sky and Space Intergroup (SSI).[7]
On 22 March 2021, he wassanctioned by the Chinese government after the European Union imposed sanctions on China overXinjiang.[8] The sanctions were lifted by China in April 2025 following negotiations withEuropean Parliament PresidentRoberta Metsola.[9]
Gahler is a signatory of thePrague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.[13]
In a joint letter initiated byNorbert Röttgen andAnthony Gonzalez ahead of the47th G7 summit in 2021, Gahler joined some 70 legislators from Europe, the US and Japan in calling upon their leaders to take a tough stance on China and to "avoid becoming dependent" on the country for technology includingartificial intelligence and5G.[14]
Gahler also chairs the European Parliament's Taiwan Friendship Group promoting the EU-Taiwan relationship.[15]
In a joint letter with 15 other MEPs from various political groups, Gahler urged theHigh Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicyJosep Borrell in early 2021 to replace the European Union’s ambassador toCuba for allegedly siding with the country’s Communist leadership.[16]
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