Elmar Peter Brok (born 14 May 1946) is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1980 until 2019, who is best known for his role as chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is a member of the CDU, which is part of the European People's Party. An MEP from 1980 until 2019, Brok held many leadership positions in German and European politics. As a member of the Convention on the Constitution for Europe and in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Brok is widely credited with contributing crucially to the Constitution of the European Union. He is also a former President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), recently replaced by Sandro Gozi. Early life and education Brok studied law and politics in Germany and at the Centre for European Governmental Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Formerly, he worked as a radio journalist and newspaper correspondent. Political career Positions in the European Parliament Member of the European Peoples Party and European Democrats group (member of the board of directors) Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (1999–2007, again 2012-2017) Substitute member of the Subcommittees on Security and Defence (SEDE) and Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) Co-Chair of the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue Member of the EP-Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China Substitute Member of the delegation for the relations with the United States Substitute member of the EP-Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Chairman of the Board of Governors of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) Member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Biodiversity, Countryside, Hunting and Recreational Fisheries (since 2014) Brok has in the past also held several other leadership positions in the European Parliament, including Member of the European People's Party (EPP) Political Bureau, Member of the EPP Group Bureau, Coordinator in the European Parliament committees on social affairs, drugs and German unity, and the European Parliament Representative on the Council's Reflection Group for Maastricht II. From 2007 until 2017, Brok was the co-chair of the EPP Foreign Ministers Meeting, which gathers EPP foreign ministers ahead of meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council, serving alongside Franco Frattini (2007-2011), Radosław Sikorski (2011-2014) and Sebastian Kurz (2014-2017). Brok was the European Parliament's negotiator at several treaty negotiations including the EU-Treaties of Amsterdam (1996/1997), Nice (2000) and Lisbon (2007), the Convention on the Future of Europe (2001-2002), the European