Marju Lauristin is an Estonian Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the Group of Socialists and Democrats. In the European Parliament she is an active member of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee where she has been appointed rapporteur of the data protection directive, as well as shadow rapporteur of data protection regulation, EU-US umbrella agreement, and the committee's opinion on TTIP negotiations. Mrs Lauristin has an academic career in social sciences and is a Professor in Tartu University since 1995. She was one of the establishing members of 'Rahvarinne' in 1988, the first large-scale independent political movement in Estonia since the beginning of the Soviet occupation. She has since 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.