My mission is Europe. In July 1972 I was born in the district of Landshut. I went to school in rural Wildenberg about an hour’s drive from Munich. It is where I still live today with my wife. My school career led me from the elementary school in Wildenberg to technical high school and later to a physical engineering degree at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich.Many of the valuable lessons in life I learned as a volunteer for the Catholic youth movement, playing in a band touring the region and participating in village life and the CSU youth organisation. My home and my youth have shaped the person I am today, I am proud of where I am from, just as I am a proud European. I chose to become a candidate for the European Parliament in 2004 because I wanted to work among Europeans. After the European elections in 2019, where I had the honour to be lead candidate for the EPP, I was re-elected EPP Group chair, after having been elected a first time in 2014. In the past ten years, I have worked closely with many EPP parties, because I believe profoundly that the EPP should be present locally to help our partners wherever our voters are.

Dolors Montserrat Montserrat was born in 1973 in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, a town in Barcelona. She holds a Law degree from the Abat Oliba CEU University in Barcelona and completed a Master’s degree at the Legal Practice School of the Barcelona Bar Association, as well as a postgraduate qualification in Urban and Real Estate Law at Pompeu Fabra University. From 1997 to 2011, she worked as a lawyer in her own firm, specializing in urban planning, real estate, and environmental law. She became involved in politics at a very early stage to defend the two core values that have guided her career: the defense of freedom—especially in the face of the threat posed by separatist sectarianism—and the defense of equality between women and men. Dolors has consistently argued that the Partido Popular actively promotes real equality, as demonstrated by its many pioneering women such as Loyola de Palacio, the first Vice-President of the European Commission. She also highlights leading European women from the EPP, such as Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola, and Christine Lagarde. A strong advocate of local governance, Dolors began her political career in her hometown, where she combined her professional work with her role as a local councillor and spokesperson for the Partido Popular from May 2003 to May 2015. In 2008, she moved into national politics and was elected as a member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, where she served until 2019. From 2011 onwards, she held the position of Third Vice-President of the Congress. In 2016, she was sworn in as Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality in the government led by Mariano Rajoy, a position she held until 2018, when she became the PP’s parliamentary spokesperson in Congress. In 2019, she led the Partido Popular list in the European elections as head of the Spanish delegation to the European Parliament. In 2024, she once again headed the PP list in the European elections, leading the most-voted list in Spain. She continued as head of the delegation until May 2025, when she was appointed Secretary General of the European People’s Party. Since 2023, she has also served as Vice-President of the EPP Group.