Leinen new chair of Environment Committee

Jo Leinen, the veteran socialist MEP, has been appointed chair of the new European Parliament’s Environment Committee. Leinen, best known for his role in drafting the Lisbon Treaty as chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee in the previous European Parliament, as well as for his work as an anti-nuclear campaigner in Germany, will hold the position for a term of two and a half years.

He is a major proponent of concentrated solar power technology and is also a keen promoter of sustainable development strategies for post industrial regions, such as his coal-producing native region, the Saarland. Though committee chairs have relatively limited powers in the European Parliament, Leinen will be the Parliament’s lead negotiator during discussions on environmental issues with the Council of Ministers under the co-decision process and may play a role in scrutinising the comitology procedure on key environmental issues.