Jo Leinen
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Jo Leinen MEP |
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Jo Leinen in 2014
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| Member of the European Parliament | |
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Assumed office 1999 |
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| President of the Union of European Federalists | |
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In office 1997–2005 |
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| Preceded by | Francesco Rossollillo |
| Succeeded by | Mercedes Bresso |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
6 April 1948 Bisten, Saar Protectorate |
| Political party |
 German:SPD  EU:PES |
Jo Leinen (born April 6, 1948 in Bisten, Sarre) is a Member of the European Parliament representing Germany. He was elected on the SPD ticket and acts as a representative within the Party of European Socialists group. 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 in 1972 and a Certificate of Advanced European Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, in 1974. Since 1977 he has worked as a lawyer.
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 headman" 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 headman" during collective actions. (One of his defenders at the time was Gerhard Schröder, former Chancellor of the BRD.)
Jo Leinen is a member of the SPD and had different functions:
From 1985 until 1999, Leinen was a Member of the Landtag of Saarland. He served as State Minister of the Environment in the government of Minister-President Oskar Lafontaine between 1985 and 1994.
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