Ismail Ertug

Early life and career

Ertug was born in Amberg in 1975, three years after his parents immigrated from Seferihisar (Izmir) to Germany. After finishing his apprenticeship as industrial management assistant, he worked as a customer consultant for enterprises at the German general health insurance (AOK) where he studied business management. Following his studies, he worked as coordinator and social insurance expert in the marketing department of the AOK Bavaria.

Political career

Since 1999, Ertug has been a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was a member of the Amberg City Council from 2004 to 2009 and again since 2014. Furthermore, Ertug is an assessor of the board of the Bavarian SPD.

In July 2009, Ertug was first elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the German Social Democrats. He was re-elected in 2014. Ertug represents the Bavarian regions of Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria. In the European Parliament, Ertug is a member of the Committee for Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and since 2014, he is coordinator of the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the TRAN committee. In this capacity, he served as the Parliament’s rapporteur on Trans-European Transport Networks (TENT-N). Since January 2016, he has been a full member of the Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS) that submitted/presented their conclusions in March 2017.

Ertug is further a substitute member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). Additionally, he is a member of the Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, EU-Tajikistan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Turkmenistan and Mongolia (DCAS). He is also a substitute member of the Delegation for the relations between the EU and the nations of Southeast Asia together with the association of Southeast Asian states as well as of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

In addition to his legislative work in the committees and the work in the delegations, Ertug is also co-chair of the EP Turkey Forum, a cross-party group of more than 70 MEPs. Their aim is to closely monitor the EU-Turkey accession negotiations as well as promote the Turkish-European relations through informatory events and cultural exchange.

Other activities

Ertug is a member of the German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Greenpeace, the German Worker’s Welfare Association (AWO), Mobifair, Rail Forum Europe, “Gemeinsam leben und lernen in Europa e.V.” and of the German coalition for action against racism “Bunt statt braun”. Furthermore, he is a mentor of the program “school without racism” for the Franz-Xaver-von-Schönwerth middle school Amberg.