Norbert Lins (born 22 December 1977) is a German politician who has served as a

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) since

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. Since 2019, he has chaired the

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

.European Parliament (26 July 2021)

database of Members of the European Parliament He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), part of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

(EPP).

Education and profession

He graduated from High School of Economics in

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( or ; Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and ...

in 1997. He then did his military service with the German Armed Forces in

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen, ...

. From 1998 to 2002, he studied at the University of Applied Sciences in

Kehl Kehl (; ) is a city with around 38,000 inhabitants in the southwestern Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. It lies in the region of Baden on the Rhine River, at the confluence with the smaller Kinzig (Rhine), Kinzig River, directly oppo ...

as a candidate for the higher civil service. He then completed a master's degree in "European Public Management" at the University of Applied Sciences in Ludwigsburg and Kehl. From 2004 to 2009, Norbert Lins worked as head of office to Andreas Schwab at the European Parliament in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. From 2006 to 2011, he was a lecturer at Kehl University of Applied Sciences. After another administrative station, he became personal assistant to Rudolf Köberle in the Ministry of Rural Areas and Consumer Protection Baden-Württemberg. From 2013, he held the Division for Broadband Funding in the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Federal State of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Party

Norbert Lins was active in local politics in the Young Christian Democrats and the CDU. From 2005 to 2011, he was chairman of the Württemberg-Hohenzollern Young Christian Democrats. From 2009 to 2011, he was a local councillor in the municipal council of Horgenzell. Since 2011, Norbert Lins has been vize-chairman of the CDU Württemberg-Hohenzollern and since 2013 a member of the executive board of the CDU Baden-Württemberg.

Political career

Lins has been a Member of the European Parliament since the 2014 European elections. He first served on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Since 2017, he has been a member of the

; he became its chairman in 2019. He was also a member of the Special Committee on the Union’s authorisation procedure for

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

s; in 2018, he served as rapporteur for the Special Committee on the EU Pesticide Approval Process, along with Congressman Bart Staes. In addition to his committee assignments, Lins is a member of the Parliament's delegation for relations with

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and to the EU-Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Asso ...

(EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee. He is also a substitute member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. Lins also supports the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development and the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

Political positions

Ahead of the Christian Democrats’

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a ...

in 2018, Lins publicly endorsed

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (; ; born 11November 1955) is a German politician serving as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU ...

to succeed

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 ...

as the party’s chair.Ulrich Mendelin (November 26, 2018)
CDU-Initiative aus dem Südwesten kritisiert Kramp-Karrenbauer
''Schwäbische Zeitung''.

References

External links

Personal website

Norbert Lins
in the database of Members of the European Parliament
Norbert Lins
on his epp-group´s website {{DEFAULTSORT:Lins, Norbert Living people 1977 births Christian Democratic Union of Germany MEPs MEPs for Germany 2019–2024 MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 People from Ravensburg MEPs for Germany 2024–2029