Pierre Jonckheer (born 5 May 1951) is a Belgian economist and politician, member of the Belgian French-speaking Green party,

Ecolo Ecolo, officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales'', (English: Confederate Ecologists for the Organisation of Original Struggles)'' is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics. The ...

Early life and education

Jonckheer grew up in

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and studied Economics at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain). During his studies he became an activist in student movements linked to the "Third World" as well as the left radical political movement. He graduated in 1974.

Career

Academic

Jonckheer became an assistant professor in the Department of Economics of the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He then worked with different

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s and in 1982 spent three months in Sri Lanka where he studied the working conditions of the

Tamils The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...

. From 1984 to 1991 he worked as a researcher for the European Social Observatory (OSE), then became its director. In 1986 he joined Ecolo and in December 1991 he became provincial senator and in 1995, led the Ecolo list for the Senate. During his eight years as senator, he specialised in European politics. In 1999, he was elected to 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 ...

and was re-elected in 2004. In 2008, he co-founded the Green European Foundation (GEF).http://www.pierrejonckheer.eu/FR/Pierre-Jonckheer.aspx Since 1973, Jonckheer has been a professor in the further education universities ISCO, CERGECO and FOPES.

Politics

In the

Belgian Senate The Senate ( nl, Senaat, ; french: Sénat, ; german: Senat) is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parli ...

, Jonckheer was a member of the European Affairs Committee. During his years as an MEP, he held a leadership role in the

European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is the European political party that represents national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–European Free ...

(EGP) as Co-President of the Green Group responsible for the relations with the EGP. In 2008 Jonckheer co-founded the Green European Foundation and is today its Co-President. The foundation focuses on research, training and publications on Green European issues and organises working seminars and panel debates. Jonckheer was first elected as first substitute on the European Election list of 1989. This was his first experience of a political campaign. Hereafter, he was designated by Ecolo as provincial senator in 1991. Three years later, he led the Ecolo list for the

and was then directly elected. He was the President of the Green Group at the Senate as well as member of the European Affairs Committee. He also participated in the Enquiry Committee of the Rwanda Genocide. In 1999, he was elected to the

. He was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He joined in the debates of the Services in the Internal Market Directive as well as on the European Constitutional Treaty.

References

External links

*
Green European Foundation

European Greens

The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament

Ecolo

Utopia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonckheer, Pierre 1951 births Living people Belgian economists People from Namur (city) Ecolo MEPs MEPs for Belgium 1999–2004 MEPs for Belgium 2004–2009 Members of the Senate (Belgium) Academic staff of the Université catholique de Louvain Université catholique de Louvain alumni