Katarina Barley (born 19 November 1968) is a German politician and lawyer who has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2019, serving as one of its Vice-Presidents.

[3] Barley grew up in Cologne; her father was an English-born journalist who worked with the English-language service of Germany's international broadcaster, the Deutsche Welle, and her mother was a German physician.

In Germany he met Barley's mother and was employed as a journalist with Deutsche Welle's English service in Cologne after graduating.

Barley served as a member of the parliament's Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation.

In May 2017, Schulz announced that Barley would succeed Manuela Schwesig as Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth for the remainder of the legislative term until the elections.

She additionally became acting Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs on 28 September 2017, when Andrea Nahles stepped down to become the parliamentary leader of the SPD.

[18] She also joined the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, where she is a member of the Democracy, Rule of Law & Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group.

[23] In a joint letter initiated by Norbert Röttgen and Anthony Gonzalez ahead of the 47th G7 summit in 2021, Barley joined some 70 legislators from Europe and the US in calling upon their leaders to take a tough stance on China and to "avoid becoming dependent" on the country for technology including artificial intelligence and 5G.

[27] During an interview for the Deutschlandfunk Radio, Barley called for withholding EU subsidies and specifically for "starving" Orbán financially, stating that "he needs the money.

"[27] The Polish prime minister’s chief of staff Michał Dworczyk said that Barley’s comments were "shameful" and evoked "the worst possible historical associations".

Mateusz Morawiecki, the then prime minister of Poland, said on the words of Barley that it was a "diplomatic scandal" and that "Germans should remember starvations and genocides [caused by them].

"[28][29][30][31] Barley gave a few exclusive interviews to Russia Today German, Vladimir Putin's propaganda channel, legitimizing RT as a journalistic media outlet, and many other politicians across the political spectrum also did the same, raising concerns about Russian disinformation and its influence on democracy in Germany.