Catherine Stihler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Catherine Stihler MEP | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 10 June 1999 |
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| Born | 30 July 1973 [Bellshill Maternity Hospital, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire |
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| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | David |
| Alma mater | University of St Andrews |
Catherine Stihler (b. July 30, 1973) is a British Labour Party politician. She has been a member of the European Parliament for Scotland since 1999. She was the unsuccessful Labour Party candidate in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election held on February 9, 2006, in what had been regarded as a safe Labour seat.
Born as Catherine Dalling Taylor, Stihler was educated at Coltness High School, later going on to the University of St Andrews where she gained an undergraduate (joint honours)MA in International Relations and Geography and a postgraduate MLitt in International Security Studies.
While at St Andrews she was elected President of the Students' Association, serving from 1994 to 1995. She also served on the Scottish Executive Committee of the Labour Party from 1993 to 1995 and was the Young Labour delegate to the National Executive Committee from 1995 to 1997. While a postgraduate student she stood in the Angus constituency at the 1997 general election
After the election Stihler worked for Anne Begg, Member of Parliament for Aberdeen South, as a research assistant. She was placed at third on the Labour Party list for Scotland in the 1999 European Parliament election, and therefore took the third Labour Party seat under the d'Hondt electoral system.
Catherine was re-elected as an MEP for Scotland in 2004 places second on the Labour party list and in March 2006 had her first child, Alexander, with her husband David (whom she met while at St. Andrews).
As an MEP, she is editor of Parliament Magazine and serves on the Scottish Executive Committee of the Labour Party as representative of the MEPs. She is an anti tobacco campaigner and serves as Labour's regional and fisheries spokesperson in the European Parliament. She recently lodged a written declaration on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which gained 183 signatures and the backing of the British Lung Foundation and European Respiratory Society. Her work on children's rights has seen her calling for common EU standards on intercountry adoption and to make 2010 the year to make child poverty history in the EU.
