Jeroen Lenaers (born 29 April 1984) is a Dutch 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 ...

. He is a member of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( , CDA) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands. Formed as a federation in 1975 by the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the Christian Historical ...

(CDA), 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). Lenaers previously worked as a policy assistant to Ria Oomen-Ruijten, then MEP for the CDA.

Early life and education

Lenaers was raised in

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

by his Belgian mother and Dutch father. He studied European Studies at

Maastricht University Maastricht University (abbreviated as UM; ) is a public university, public research university in Maastricht, Netherlands. Founded in 1976, it is the second youngest of the thirteen List of universities in the Netherlands, Dutch universities. In ...

between 2003 and 2008.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–present

Lenaers was second on the CDA candidate list for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

. He was elected through preference votes. A member of the

European People's Party Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

, Lenaers first served on the

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion ...

from 2014 until 2019 before moving to the

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. In this capacity, he was the Parliament's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on legislation creating the

European Labour Authority The European Labour Authority (ELA) is an agency of the European Union tasked with coordinating and supporting the enforcement of EU law on labour mobility. Its activities started on 17 October 2019 and the agency is expected to reach a yearly b ...

(ELA) in 2019. In 2020, he became his parliamentary group's coordinator on the committee and its spokesperson for justice and home affairs. Also in 2020, he also joined the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union. Since 2021, he has been part of the Parliament's delegation to the

Conference on the Future of Europe The Conference on the Future of Europe was a proposal of the European Commission and the European Parliament, announced at the end of 2019, with the aim of looking at the medium- to long-term future of the EU and what reforms should be made to ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, Lenaers held the position of vice-chairman of the Parliament's delegation for relations with the countries of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 Sovereign state, states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its ...

(ASEAN) from 2014 until 2019. Since 2019, he has been part of the delegations for relations with the

Mashreq The Mashriq (; ), also known as the Arab Mashriq (), sometimes spelled Mashreq or Mashrek, is a term used by Arabs to refer to the eastern part of the Arab world, as opposed to the Maghreb (western) region, and located in West Asia and easter ...

countries and the delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; , ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 Member state of the European Union, EU member states (i ...

. He is also a member of the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Uni ...

and the European Parliament Intergroup on Trade Unions. In February 2024, Esther de Lange, the CDA's delegation leader in the European Parliament, stepped down. Lenaers succeeded her in this position as well as in the role of vice chair of the European People's Party Group. He was re-elected in June 2024 as the CDA's third candidate, when the party won three seats.

Tom Berendsen Tom B. W. Berendsen (born 11 April 1983) is a Dutch politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019.

subsequently took over the position of delegation leader.

Electoral history

Personal life

Lenaers is married since 2019 and has two children.

References

External links

Jeroen Lenaers MEP
official site
European Parliament profileEPP Group profilePage on Parlement.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenaers, Jeroen 1984 births Living people People from Weert Maastricht University alumni Christian Democratic Appeal MEPs MEPs for the Netherlands 2014–2019 MEPs for the Netherlands 2019–2024 MEPs for the Netherlands 2024–2029