Jens Geier

Jens Adolf Geier (born 22 June 1961) is a German politician and member of the European Parliament from Germany. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, part of the Party of European Socialists.[1]

Jens Geier MEP
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 July 2009
Constituency	Germany
Personal details
Born	22 June 1961 Frankfurt, Germany
Political party	German: Social Democratic Party  EU: Party of European Socialists
Website	www.jens-geier.de

Early life and career

After graduating from Ruhr University Bochum in 1989, Geier worked as a research assistant to Social Democrat MEP Detlev Samland.[2][3] From 1992 to 1999 he worked for the executive of the Social Democratic Party, first for the party's leader, Björn Engholm, and then for the deputy leader, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul.[3] Geier stood unsuccessfully for the European Parliament in both 1999 and 2004.[3] He worked as a public relations officer for the North Rhine-Westphalia branch of the SPD from 1999 until 2001.[2] He then spent five years working for Projekt Ruhr GmbH, a regional development agency, before taking up a position at Deloitte in 2006.[2]

Member of the European Parliament, 2009-present

Geier was elected to the European Parliament at his third attempt in 2009.[2] He has since been serving on the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Budgetary Control. In 2012, he was the parliament’s rapporteur for that year’s report of the European Court of Auditors on the European Union’s spending.[4] Following the 2014 European elections, he has elected Vice-Chair of the Committee on Budgets, under the leadership of chairman Jean Arthuis. In this capacity, he has served as the parliament’s rapporteur on the 2017 budget of the European Union[5][6] and on the European Labour Authority (ELA).[7]

In addition, Geier serves as a member of delegation for relations with the United States and of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime)[8] and the European Parliament Intergroup on Western Sahara.[9]

Since January 2017, Geier has been serving as leader of the SPD group within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.[10]

In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Geier was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on European policy, led by Peter Altmaier, Alexander Dobrindt and Martin Schulz.

Other activities

• Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2018)[11]
• Westdeutscher Rundfunk (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

1. Profile European Parliament
2. "Jens Geier, MdEP" (in German). North Rhine-Westphalia SPD. Archived from the original on 5 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
3. "Weiß der Geier" (in German). Neue Ruhr Zeitung. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
4. Toby Vogel (November 7, 2012), The annual blame-game over better spending begins European Voice.
5. MEPs reject member states' budget proposal EUobserver, 29 September 2016.
6. Francesco Guarascio (September 13, 2016), EU lawmakers aim to limit proposed cuts to 2017 budget Reuters.
7. Hanne Cokelaere (November 14, 2019), Labor authority caught in EU institutional turf war Politico Europe.
8. Members of the European Parliament on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime) European Parliament.
9. Members European Parliament Intergroup on Western Sahara.
10. Jens Geier führt jetzt die Europa-SPD Westfalenpost, January 11, 2017.
11. 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.