César Luena López (born 29 October 1980) is a Spanish politician of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE) who has been serving as

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

since 2019. He was a member of the 9th, 10th, 11th and

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

terms of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

in representation of La Rioja.

Early life and education

Born in Logroño on 29 October 1980, A student in a rural school vis-à-vis his early education, he took his highschool education in Nájera. He earned a licentiate degree in

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

at the University of La Rioja (UR) in 2003.

Political career

Early beginnings

Luena joined the Socialist Youth at age 17 and the

(PSOE) when he was 20 years old. After becoming Secretary General of the Socialist Youth of La Rioja region in 2002, Luena served as municipal councillor in Bobadilla from 2003 to 2007. Also active in college organizations at the national level, he was a member of the Federation of Progressive Students of Spain (2004–2007) and the (2006–2007). Luena ran 13th in the PSOE list for the 2007 regional election in La Rioja and, elected, he served as member of the regional legislature from 2007 to 2008. He was designated as head of the PSOE list in La Rioja to the Lower House for the 2008 general election, becoming a member of the 9th term of the

. He renovated his seat for the 10th, 11th and 12th terms. In 2012, Luena was elected as the Secretary General of the regional branch of PSOE, the PSOE La Rioja. In March 2014, he earned a PhD at the UR reading a dissertation titled ''Antonio Larrea: el alma del Rioja'' ("Antonio Larrea: The Soul of La Rioja"), supervised by José Luis Gómez Urdáñez.

Career in national politics

After

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has been Prime Minister of Spain since June 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since June 2017, having pr ...

became the PSOE leader in July 2014, the latter chose Luena as Secretary of Organization of the party. A member of Sánchez's inner circle during the later's first spell as party leader, he left the post after the political "

defenestration Defenestration (from Modern Latin ) is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. The term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618 which became the spark that started the Thirty Years' War. Th ...

" of Sánchez during the

2016 PSOE crisis The 2016 PSOE crisis was a political conflict within the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), starting on 26 September 2016. Long-standing discontent with party Secretary General Pedro Sánchez and the combination of a series of circumstances r ...

in the Autumn of 2016 and the ensuing installation of an interim board; he was one of the ''sanchistas'' who distanced from their former leader, showing indifference towards Sánchez during the latter's intervention at the second investiture session of

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a vote of no confidence ousted his government. On 5 June 2018, he announced his resignation as People's Party lead ...

as Prime Minister in October 2016. Luena sided with Patxi López in regard of the May 2017 PSOE leadership election. He found himself on the losing side of the primary election after the unexpected win of Sánchez over

Susana Díaz Susana Díaz Pacheco (; born 18 October 1974, Seville, Spain) is a Spanish politician from Andalusia and a leading figure in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) as the former leader of the Andalusian PSOE-A. She served as the President ...

and López, and soon after, in July 2017, he was replaced as leader of the PSOE La Rioja by , thus his political clout was reduced to his

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spai ...

seat obtained at the June 2016 general election.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

Sánchez found a place for his former right-hand in the 11th slot of the PSOE electoral list for the May 2019 European Parliament election in Spain with Luena being finally included in the 10th place of the list after Sami Naïr (prospective #3) was barred from contesting the election by the

Junta Electoral Central The Junta Electoral Central (JEC) is the electoral commission for elections in Spain, monitoring and registering provincial elections, district elections, those of self-governing districts and general elections. It supervises the vote at polling ...

. Elected as MEP, In parliament, Luena is part of the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...

(S&D) political group. He joined the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). In this capacity, he was the parliament's rapporteur on the EU's strategy for

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

in 2021, calling for legally binding measures to halve the use of

chemical pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lam ...

s, cut

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

use by 20% and expand

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

s of land and sea by 2030. In addition to his committee assignments, Luena also became a member of the parliament's delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula (DKOR), assuming a vice-chair role. He is also a member of the

Spinelli Group The Spinelli Group is an initiative founded with a view to reinvigorate the endeavour for federalisation of the European Union (EU), by creating a network of citizens, think tanks, NGOs, academics, writers and politicians who support the idea o ...

.Board & Members

References

;Informational notes ;Citations {{DEFAULTSORT:Luena, César Living people MEPs for Spain 2019–2024 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party MEPs Members of the 9th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 10th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 11th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Politicians from La Rioja Spanish municipal councillors Members of the 7th Parliament of La Rioja (Spain) 1980 births