Jens Geier (born 22 June 1961) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

since 2009. He is a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

, part of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom ...

Early life and career

After graduating from

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

in 1989, Geier worked as a research assistant to Social Democrat MEP Detlev Samland. From 1992 to 1999 he worked for the executive of the Social Democratic Party, first for the party's leader,

Björn Engholm Björn Engholm (born 9 November 1939) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was Federal Minister for Education and Science from 1981 to 1982, and in 1982 also Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forests. From 1 ...

, and then for the deputy leader,

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (born 21 November 1942) is a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 1965. Early life and career Wieczorek-Zeul (pronounced ''VEE‐choreck TSOIL'') began her career as a teacher 1965� ...

. Geier stood unsuccessfully for the

in both 1999 and 2004. He worked as a public relations officer for the

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

branch of the SPD from 1999 until 2001. Geier then spent five years working for Projekt Ruhr GmbH, a regional development agency, before taking up a position at

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

in 2006.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 2009-present

Geier was elected to the European Parliament at his third attempt in 2009. From 2009 to 2019, he served on the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.Committee on Budgetary Control The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesirable developments within EU institutio ...

. In 2012, he was the parliament’s

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

for that year’s report of the

European Court of Auditors The European Court of Auditors (ECA; French: ''Cour des comptes européenne'') is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg in order to improve EU financial management. It has 27 members ( ...

on the European Union’s spending. Following the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

, he has elected Vice-Chair of the Committee on Budgets, under the leadership of chairman

Jean Arthuis Jean Arthuis (born 7 October 1944 in Saint-Martin-du-Bois, Maine-et-Loire) is a French politician. Over the course of career, he has held various ministerial positions and served as Member of the European Parliament from France, where he chaired ...

. In this capacity, he has served as the parliament’s rapporteur on the 2017 budget of the European Union and on the

European Labour Authority The European Labour Authority (ELA) is an agency of the European Union tasked with coordinating and supporting the enforcement of EU law on labour mobility. Its activities started on 17 October 2019 and the agency is expected to reach a yearly bu ...

(ELA). In addition to his committee assignments, Geier has served as a member of the parliament's delegations for relations with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and Japan. He is also part of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime), the European Parliament Intergroup on Trade Unions and the European Parliament Intergroup on

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

. Since January 2017, Geier has been serving as leader of the SPD group within 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 ...

. Following the 2019 European elections, Geier moved to the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

. In this capacity, he served as the parliament's

on a non-binding 2021 motion in support of using “low-carbon hydrogen” made from fossil gas as a bridge towards 100% renewable production. On 30 June 2021 Geier took on a godparenthood of

Dzianis Urad Dzianis Urad (, also known as Denis Urad; born 23 June 1991) is a former special liaison officer of the Belarusian Armed Forces’ General Staff and a political prisoner. Biography Urad was born on 23 June 1991 in Rasony, Viciebsk Region of Be ...

, Belarusian

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

Role in national politics

In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

under the leadership of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

following the 2017 federal elections, Geier was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on European policy, led by

Peter Altmaier Peter Altmaier (born 18 June 1958) is a German lawyer and CDU politician who served as Acting Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2018 and as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as Federal Mi ...

Alexander Dobrindt Alexander Dobrindt (born 7 June 1970) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). Between 2013 and 2017, he served as Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the government of Chancellor Angela Mer ...

and

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2017 to 2018, and was a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. Previously he was President of the European Parliame ...

. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition (german: Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' tra ...

of the SPD, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 federal elections, Geier was again part of his party's delegation in the working group on European affairs, this time co-chaired by

Udo Bullmann Udo Bullmann (born 8 June 1956) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament since 1999. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), part of the Party of European Socialists. Personal lif ...

Franziska Brantner Franziska Katharina Brantner (born 24 August 1979) is a German politician of the Green Party who has been serving as a member of the German Parliament since 2013. In addition to her parliamentary mandate, Brantner has been a Parliamentary State ...

and

Nicola Beer Nicola Beer (born 23 January 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019, and as one of its Vice-Presidents. Early life and career Beer finish ...

Other activities

* Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2018)Bernd Westphal wird neuer Beirats-Vorsitzender beim Wirtschaftsforum der SPD
Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , press release of June 7, 2018. *

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

(WDR), Alternate Member of the Broadcasting Council (since 2001) * Karl Funke Foundation, Member of the Board * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member * Workers’ Welfare Association (AWO), Member

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geier, Jens 1961 births Living people Politicians from Frankfurt Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs MEPs for Germany 2009–2014 Ruhr University Bochum alumni MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 MEPs for Germany 2019–2024