Martin Kastler

Martin Kastler (born 18 June 1974 in Nuremberg) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) who was a Member of the European Parliament from 2003 until 2004 and from 2009 until 2014.

Early life and career
After attending the Martin-Behaim-Gymnasium in Nuremberg Kastler studied history and political sciences in Erlangen and Prague. From 1996 to 1997, he gathered experience in the field of European policy as an employee in the Foreign Policy Department of the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel. Thereafter, he became press spokesman for the Nuremberg Metropole region and editor for DATEV. Since 1996, he worked freelance as a journalist and publicist. From 2004 until his re-entrance into the European Parliament in December 2008, he was head of the Development Policy Department and Coordinator for EU-Projects for the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Martin Kastler is married, has three children and lives in Schwabach.

Political career
Kastler has been a member of the CSU since 1993. He is a local board member of the CSU for Nuremberg-Fürth-Schwabach and deputy chairman of the Schwabach District CSU Association.

Member of Parliament
Kastler's first term in European Parliament for the CSU spanned 2003 to 2004, as successor of Emilia Müller, who was called to government by the former minister-president of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber. After the Bavarian regional elections in September 2008, Kastler succeeded Alexander Radwan. At the European elections in 2009, Martin Kastler was elected as the Member of the European Parliament for the whole legislative period of 2009-2014.

Memberships
Kastler is member of the parliamentarian group of "Europa Union".

Committees and delegations
Kastler is member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and a substitute member of the Committee on Development. He is member of the Delegation EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and a substitute member of the Delegation to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly EU-ACP, spokesman for Social and Development Policy of the CSU group in the European Parliament and vice chairman of the Intergroup "Bioethics" and the EPP Working Group "Bioethics" in the European Parliament.

Honorary activities
Kastler is chairman of the Sudeten German-Czech Ackermann Gemeinde, a former scholar of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, a member of the Malteser emergency service, member of Christdemokraten für das Leben, district chairman and board member of the Pan-Europa Union and a member of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).

In 1999, Kastler acquired the Czech Language Certificate. Occasionally, he plays the organ in the area of Nuremberg, having played regularly in a Nuremberg parish for a longer period of time.

The First European Citizens' Initiative for a Europe-wide protection of the Sunday
Kastler is an initiator of the First European Citizens' Initiative whose aim is to protect Sundays as a day of rest Europe-wide. To that end, he presented the Online-Campagneportal "Mum and Dad belong to us on Sunday!" on 10 February 2010 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Kastler believes that Sunday needs to be protected as a work-free day of family and rest in order that children do not run the risk of suffering from today's flexibilisation of the business world. His view is that the key to a successful protection of children is giving parents time for them. Thus, the introduction of a work-free Sunday contributes to turning Europe into the world's most child-oriented area. He hints at the historical entrenchment of the work-free Sunday in the European social welfare net as well as at the proven advantages of a free weekday on health.

Kastler is supported by the Verband der Katholiken in Wirtschaft und Verwaltung (KKV), the Bonifatiuswerk and the Ackermann Gemeinde.