Privacy notice

What is processed

For Members: name, country, political group, national party, and the start and end dates of the mandate. For parliamentary staff: name, the Member they are recorded as working for, the staff category recorded by the Parliament, and the start and end dates of that association. From these, the site derives aggregate statistics such as headcount and staff turnover.

Where it comes from

All of it comes from information published by the European Parliament on europarl.europa.eu, which is publicly accessible. No data is obtained from the individuals concerned, and none is bought from or supplied by third parties. This satisfies the requirement in Art. 14(2)(f) GDPR to state the source.

Why

To document publicly who works in and around the European Parliament, and how that composition changes over time. The Parliament publishes this information one Member at a time, which makes patterns across the institution — staffing levels, turnover, movement between offices — effectively impossible to see. Making them visible supports public scrutiny of a legislature.

Legal basis

Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — legitimate interests. The interest pursued is public transparency about the composition and staffing of an elected legislative body. In weighing that interest against the interests and rights of the people listed, the following matter: the data is already published by the Parliament itself; it concerns professional roles rather than private life; it contains no contact details, addresses, or personal characteristics; and it relates to work carried out in a public institution funded from public money.

Who receives it

The register is public, so anyone visiting the site can see it. Subscribers to the email digest receive extracts matching the filters they chose. Data is not sold, and it is not shared with any third party beyond the hosting provider named in section 03.

How long it is kept

Indefinitely. The register is a historical record, and entries for people whose association with the Parliament has ended are what make change over time visible at all — removing them would defeat the purpose. This is retention for archiving purposes in the public interest under Art. 5(1)(e) in conjunction with Art. 89(1) GDPR, and it does not affect your right to object under section 05.

Server logs

The site is hosted by netcup GmbH, Daimlerstraße 25, 76185 Karlsruhe, Germany, acting as a processor under Art. 28 GDPR. Serving a page necessarily involves processing your IP address, the time of the request, the resource requested and your browser’s user agent. The basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — the legitimate interest in operating the site securely and reliably. These logs are deleted after a short period. Hosting is within Germany, so no data is transferred outside the European Economic Area.

Analytics

Usage statistics are collected with Umami, an open-source analytics tool running on our own infrastructure rather than a third-party service. It sets no cookies, does not store IP addresses, does not track visitors across sites, and transmits nothing to third parties. The basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — the legitimate interest in understanding, in aggregate, which parts of the site are used.

Cookies

Simply browsing the site sets no cookies and requires no consent banner. One cookie is set only if you sign in to manage a digest subscription — see section 04.

External links

Some pages link to LinkedIn search results and to europarl.europa.eu. Those are ordinary links: nothing is sent to those services unless you click, and once you do, their own privacy terms apply.

What is processed

Your email address, the digest frequency and the country, political group and staff category filters you selected, plus a record of which digests were sent to you and whether delivery succeeded. Sign-in works through a single-use link sent by email; those links are stored until they expire or are used.

Legal basis

Art. 6(1)(a) and Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR — your consent, given by confirming your address through the link we email you, and the performance of the service you asked for. Your address is only added to the list once you have confirmed it, so nobody can be subscribed by someone else.

Session cookie

Signing in sets one cookie, mep-app-session, which keeps you signed in for up to seven days. It is encrypted, readable only by the server, and used for nothing but recognising your session. It is strictly necessary for a service you have requested, so it requires no consent under § 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG.

Sending

Digests are sent over our own SMTP mail server. No third-party newsletter platform is involved and your address is not passed to one.

How long it is kept

Until you unsubscribe. Every digest contains an unsubscribe link, and you can also delete your subscription from the settings page or by writing to the address in section 01. Expired sign-in links are discarded automatically.

The right to object (Art. 21)

Because the register relies on legitimate interests, you have the right to object to your data being processed, on grounds relating to your particular situation. If you object, processing stops unless there are compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests.

An objection is assessed on its merits rather than mechanically. The public interest in a sitting Member of the European Parliament is strong and an objection is unlikely to override it. For staff, and particularly for junior and temporary roles, the balance is different and an objection carries more weight. Write to info@samuelgroesch.de and you will receive a reasoned answer within one month, as Art. 12(3) GDPR requires.

Complaints

You can complain to a supervisory authority, in particular in the member state where you live or work. The authority responsible for this site is: