Lauristin is the daughter of the communist politicians Johannes Lauristin and Olga Lauristin (née Künnapuu),two leading politicians in the Communist Party of Estonia.[1] Her stepfather was politician Hendrik Allik and her maternal half-brother is theatre director and politician Jaak Allik. She grew up and attended primary and secondary schools mainly in Tallinn,where she was a classmate of actress Ines Aru.[2] She graduated from the Tartu State University (now University of Tartu) in 1966 with a degree in Journalism and Sociology of Mass Communication.
In 1976,Lauristin completed her PhD studies in journalism at Moscow University. Her thesis was focused on content analysis of newspaper texts.
In October 1980,Lauristin was a signatory of the Letter of 40 Intellectuals,a public letter in which forty prominent Estonian intellectuals defended the Estonian language and protested the Russification policies of the Kremlin in Estonia.[4] The signatories also expressed their unease against Republic-level government in harshly dealing with youth protests in Tallinn that were sparked a week earlier due to the banning of a public performance of the punk rock band Propeller.[4]
Following the 1992 elections,Lauristin served as a member of the Riigikogu,elected as a member of the People's Party Moderates (Estonian:Rahvaerakond Mõõdukad).
Within her parliamentary group,Lauristin served as vice-chairwoman under the leadership of Gianni Pittella from 2014 until 2016.
On the Committee on Civil Liberties,Justice and Home Affairs,Lauristin serves as the Parliament’s rapporteur in the ePrivacy Regulation.[7] In addition to her committee assignments,she is a member of the Parliament’s delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee.
In 2017,Lauristin run for the city council of Tartu,while promising to step down from the European Parliament if she was elected. Lauristin was eventually elected with the second most votes in the electoral district.[8] On 27 October 2017,Lauristin left the European Parliament,following the adoption in the LIBE committee of her report on the e-Privacy Regulation.[9]
↑"Лауристин Марью Йоханнесовна"[Lauristin Maryu Yohannesovna]. The last deputies of the last Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
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