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Rebecca Harms (born 7 December 1956) is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 until 2019. She is a member of the Alliance '90/The Greens, part of the European Green Party. From 2010 until 2016 she served as president of The Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament.
From 1994 to 2004, Harms was a member of the Landtag of Lower Saxony. From 1998 she served as chairwoman of her party on the state level. She has since been a member of the Parteirat, the federal leadership body of Germany's Green Party.
In her first term in parliament, Harms was a member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. Between 2007 and 2009, she served as Vice Chairwoman of the Temporary Committee on Climate Change; she was part of the European Parliament's delegations to the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in BaliSimon Taylor (November 21, 2007), Bali-bound MEPs Politico Europe. and the 2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań.Jennifer Rankin (November 26, 2008), MEPs flock to Poznań meeting European Voice.
Harms led the Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament from 2009, at first alongside Daniel Cohn-Bendit (2009–2014) and later Philippe Lamberts (2014–2016). In addition, she was a member of the Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (dealing with the Volkswagen emissions scandal) from 2016. From 2017 until 2019, she served as chairwoman of the delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, which deals with relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
On the national level, Harms was a Green Party delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2004 and 2012.
In October 2016, Harms announced that she would resign from her position as co-chairwoman of the Greens–European Free Alliance.Christine Heuer (October 22, 2016), Rückzug von Rebecca Harms (Grüne): "Es gibt eine zu starke Ja-aber-Haltung" Deutschlandfunk. Since beginning of 2017, she is the chairwoman of the delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, and Member of the Conference of Delegation Chairs. She is member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee, as well as the delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. As Substitute Member, she is on the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). She also represented the European Parliament in the OSCE/ODIHR international observation mission for the 2019 Moldovan parliamentary election. EP delegation to observe parliamentary elections in Moldova European Parliament, press release of February 22, 2019.
In July 2018, Harms announced that she would not stand in the 2019 European elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term. Europawahl: Grünen-Abgeordnete Harms kandidiert nicht nochmal für EU-Parlament Spiegel Online, July 3, 2018.
Harms was a member of the parliament's monitoring mission during the Ukrainian parliamentary elections in 2014, led by Andrej Plenković.Jeanette Minns (October 9, 2014), Parliament’s mission to Ukrainian elections European Voice.
On 25 September 2014 Harms, who had arrived in Moscow to witness the court trial against Nadiya Savchenko, was denied entrance to the Russian Federation and was announced as persona non grata. European Parliament member declared persona non grata by Russia. Europe Online. 25 September 2014 She was informed that her entrance to Russia could be qualified as a crime. European MP Rebecca Harms was denied entrance to Moscow. Deutsche Welle (Ukraine). 25 September 2014 In 2015, news media reported that Harms was indeed included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the European Union who are not allowed to enter the country.Laurence Norman (May 30, 2015), Russia Produces Blacklist of EU People Banned From Entering Country The Wall Street Journal. European Union anger at Russian travel blacklist BBC News, May 31, 2015.
When Finland announced plans in 2014 to build a nuclear reactor in cooperation with Russian firm Rosatom and on the condition that Finland maintains an energy partnership with Russia over the subsequent years, Harms described the decision as "wrong". She insisted that "with a Russian partner, it is even worse," as this was "totally contrary to the EU's energy security goals, which aim to cut the EU's damaging dependency on Russian energy."Julie Levy-Abegnoli (December 8, 2014), Russia moves in on Finnish nuclear energy market The Parliament Magazine.
Harms is fundamentally supportive of the European Commission’s 2015 proposal for an Energy Union, but warned that while reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian energy imports "we escape into the arms of Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan instead of the home-grown renewables sector."Stephen Brown (February 25, 2015), [24] EurActiv.
Along with other senior MEPs from the European Parliament's main groups – including Elmar Brok and Guy Verhofstadt –, Harms signed a 2016 letter to EU foreign relations chief Federica Mogherini in which they urge the EU to impose sanctions on Russian officials over the killing of anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky.Andrew Rettman (May 3, 2016), MEPs clarify position on Magnitsky sanctions EUobserver.
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