Ursula Schleicher

Ursula Schleicher (15 May 1933 – 18 June 2026) was a German Christian Social Union in Bavaria politician and harpist who served two terms in the Bundestag from 1972 to 1980 and five terms in the European Parliament between 1979 and 2004. She served as state chair of the Paneuropean Union in Bavaria between 1988 and 1994 before becoming its deputy federal chair in 1995 and was a Vice-President of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999. Schleicher was appointed Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2001.

Early life Schleicher was born in Aschaffenburg, Gau Main Franconia, Germany, on 15 May 1933. From 1953 to 1957, she studied cultural sciences and medicine at Goethe University Frankfurt in Frankfurt and then majored in the harp during her music degree at a music school in Munich between 1957 and 1961.

Career Schleicher was employed as a harp and piano teacher for the Seminários Livres de Música at the Federal University of Bahia in Bahia, Brazil from 1961 to 1963 and was the university orchestra's first harpist. Schleicher was a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection and the Delegation for relations with the Committee of EFTA Parliamentarians.

She gained her third term in the European Parliament at the 1989 European Parliament election in West Germany. She was made a member of the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Delegation for relations with Czechoslovakia (later the Delegation for relations with the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic). Schleicher became a substitute of the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment, the Delegation for relations with Hungary, the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union and the Delegation to the EU-Hungary Joint Parliamentary Committee. In 1994, she stood down as vice-chair of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection.

At the 1999 European Parliament election in Germany, Schleicher was re-elected to serve a fifth term in the European Parliament. She was chair of both the Delegations to the parliamentary cooperation committees for relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and the Delegation to the EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and vice-chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs. Schleicher was a member of the Conference of Delegation Chairs and a substitute for the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy. She retired as an MEP on 19 July 2004.

Awards In 1979, she was conferred with the Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and the Bavarian Order of Merit in 1983. Schleicher was appointed Officer's Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990. That same year, she received the Decoration of Honor of the German Medical Association and the Gold Badge of Honor of the VdK Bavaria. Schleicher was honoured with the Bayerische Verfassungsmedaille, and the Medal for special services to Bavaria in a united Europe in 1996. In 1998, she earned the Robert Schuman Medal of the EPP Group and the Pro-Retina Award. Schleicher was upgraded to the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and received the Bavarian Environment Medal in 2001.