| Pierre Jonckheer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 May 1951 Namur, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgium |
| Occupation | politician, economist |
Pierre Jonckheer (born 5 May 1951, Namur, Belgium) is a Belgian economist and politician, member of the Belgian French-speaking Green party, Ecolo.
He grew up in Wallonia and Brussels in a middle-class family. He studied Economics at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). During his studies he rapidly became an activist in student movements linked to the "Third World" as well as the left radical political movement. He graduated in 1974 and became assistant professor in the department of Economics of the Catholic University of Louvain. He then worked closely with different NGOs and in 1982 spent 3 months in Sri Lanka where he discovered the dismal working conditions of the Tamils. These different experiences forged his political and social convictions. From 1984 to 1991, Pierre Jonckheer worked as a researcher, for OSE then became its director (European Social Observatory). In 1986 he joined Ecolo, a party he believed could offer an alternative to society. In December 1991 he became provincial senator and in 1995, led the Ecolo list for the Senate. During his 8 years as senator, he specialized in European politics. In 1999, he was elected to the European Parliament and was re-elected in 2004. In 2008, he co-founded the Green European Foundation (GEF).
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It was his encounter with leftist unionists involved in international and European matters which drew him to work on European matters. In the Belgian Senate, he was a member of the European Affairs Committee. He believes that each national Green party can grow from the experience of its European counterparts. It has been, therefore, necessary to create meeting places and networks allowing exchanges between different Green European players, a role to which the EGP closely adheres and which Pierre Jonckheer joined in 1988. During his years as a MEP, he played an important role in the EGP as Co-President of the Green Group responsible for the relations with the EGP. In 2008, Pierre 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. Pierre Jonckheer has always insisted on the transnational dimension of the projects which are financed by the GEF.
Pierre 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 Belgian Senate 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. His cooperation and involvement in the Committee of European Questions of the Federal Parliament made him a respected and recognised politician within the different national parties.
In 1999, Pierre Jonckheer was elected to the European Parliament and joined, among others, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Paul Lannoye. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and of the Internal Market Consumer Protection Committee. He played an important role in the debates of the Service Directive as well as on the European Constitutional Treaty.
Since 1973, Pierre Jonckheer has been a professor in further education universities, ISCO, CERGECO and FOPES.