Joseph Leinen (born 6 April 1948) is a German politician who served as

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from 1999 until 2019. He is a member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, part of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

. He is well known for his environmental and foreign affairs activities, as well as for his support for a Federal Europe. He obtained a law degree in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1972 and a Certificate of Advanced European Studies from the

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, in 1974. Since 1977 he has worked as a lawyer.

Extraparliamentary tasks

Leinen became publicly known as a spokesman of the anti-nuclear movement and the peace movement (1980), he was also active for the Bundesverband Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz (BBU). He received the nickname "container-Jo" during a demonstration, having climbed a container in order to coordinate protest actions by megaphone. Because of his participation at a demonstration against the Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant (1981), he was briefly charged with being "guide and ringleader" of a rioting 'mob', however the Federal Constitutional Court eventually dropped charges against him, ruling that there can not be a case of "guide and ringleader" during collective actions. (One of his defenders at the time was

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

, former Chancellor of the BRD.)

Party

Jo Leinen is a member of the SPD and had different functions: * 1977–1979: Europe-Secretary of the youth of the SPD * 1981–1985: member of the committee of environment of the SPD * 1985–1999: member of the state-directorate of the SPD Saar * 1996 until today: member of the Europe-Commission of the SPD

Career in national politics

From 1985 until 1999, Leinen was a Member of the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

. He served as State Minister of the Environment in the government of Minister-President Oskar Lafontaine between 1985 and 1994. From 1995, Leinen was also a substitute member of the

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

(CoR), invariably standing in for Lafontaine. In 1999, he was also member of the municipal council of Püttlingen/Saar.

Member of the European Parliament

Leinen was elected Member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

without interruption from 1999 until 2019. In parliament, he focused on environment, the development of the unification of the European Union and on foreign affairs. From 2004 he was the President of some key Committees and Delegations in the EP. In 2015, Leinen was one of the Parliament's two rapporteurs (alongside

Danuta Hübner Danuta Maria Hübner (, or ; born 8 April 1948) is a Polish politician, diplomat, and economist and Member of the European Parliament. She was European Commissioner for Regional Policy from 22 November 2004 until 4 July 2009, when she resigned t ...

) on a set of proposed changes to EU electoral law that sought to regularize a variety of different electoral systems across the EU. In addition to his committee assignments, Leinen served on the European Parliament Intergroup on a European Constitution from 1999 until 2009. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

under the leadership of

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

following the 2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on European policy, led by Peter Altmaier, Alexander Dobrindt and Achim Post.

EP Parliamentary activities, membership in Committees and in Delegations

Commitment to European ideal

Leinen was Chairman of the German section of the Young European Federalists (JEF) from 1977 to 1979 and a member of its Federal Committee at European level, then chaired by Richard Corbett. He was European Secretary of the youth section of the SPD (Jusos) and Vice-President of the European Environment Bureau (EEB) in Brussels from 1979 to 1984. He was member in the

from 1995 to 1999 and in the Congress of the Regions and Communes of the Council of Europe. Currently, he is member of different organisations of culture, social and sport; and also vice-president of EUROSOLAR e.V (1988-2005). He was President of the UEF (1997–2005). He served as vice-president of the European Movement International from 2005 to 2011 until in November 2011 he was elected president of the organisation.

Other activities

Leinen has been President of the

Union of European Federalists The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is an international non-profit association originally founded in 1946 and refounded in 1973, promoting the advent of a European federal State based on the idea of unity in diversity. In 1946, it brought ...

since 1997. In addition, he holds various other positions, including: * Committee for a Democratic UN, Member of the Advisory Council (since 2004) * Energy Watch Group (EWG), Member * Union of European Federalists (UEF) Europa-Union Deutschland * European Movement International, Member * European Policy Centre (EPC), Member of the Strategic Council * German Industry Initiative for Energy Efficiency (DENEFF), Member of the Parliamentary Advisory BoardParliamentary Advisory Board
German Industry Initiative for Energy Efficiency (DENEFF). * "A Soul for Europe", Parliamentarian Working Group of the Advisory Board

Recognition

* 1985: Award from the environment foundation

Publications

* ''Öffentlichkeit in Europa: Europäische Öffentlichkeit als neuer Antrieb für europäische Politik'', in: Claudio Franzius/ Ulrich K. Preuss (Hrsg.), Europäische Öffentlichkeit, Baden-Baden 2004, S.31–37. * zusammen mit Justus Schönau: ''Auf dem Weg zur europäischen Demokratie. Politische Parteien auf EU-Ebene: neue Entwicklungen'', in: Integration, 3/2003, S. 218–227.

References

External links

*
Jo Leinen's website within the European Parliament

A Soul for Europe

Union of European Federalists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leinen, Jo 1948 births Living people MEPs for Germany 2004–2009 College of Europe alumni Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs MEPs for Germany 1999–2004 MEPs for Germany 2009–2014 Eurofederalism MEPs for Germany 2014–2019