Klaus-Heiner Lehne
President of the European Court of Auditors
Assumed office
1 October 2016
Preceded byVítor Manuel da Silva Caldeira
Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs
In office
8 September 2009 – 28 February 2014
Preceded byGerardo Galeote Quecedo
Succeeded byJerzy Buzek
Member of the European Parliament
for Germany
In office
19 July 1994 – 28 February 2014
Member of the Bundestag
In office
12 March 1992 – 10 November 1994
Personal details
Born (1957-10-28) 28 October 1957
Düsseldorf, Germany
Political partyChristian Democratic Union
Children2

Klaus-Heiner Lehne (born 28 October 1957 in Düsseldorf, Germany) is a German lawyer and politician who has been serving as member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) since 2014. From 2016 until 2022, he was its 11th President[1][2]

Beforehand, he was a member of the European Parliament for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) which is part of the European People's Party political group. In his previous national and European parliamentary career, spanning more than twenty years, he served among other things from 2009 to 2014 as political group coordinator and then Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs and concurrently as Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs.[3]

Early career

Candidadature poster for the 1987 Bundestag election

After his A levels, Lehne studied law, physics and philosophy at the universities of Freiburg, Cologne, Bonn and Düsseldorf from 1978 to 1986. Following the conclusion of his studies, he took up a position as a lawyer in Düsseldorf.

His brother Olaf Lehne is a member of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2005.

Political career

Career in local politics

Lehne joined the Christian Democrats when he turned 18, in 1975. He became a member of the City Council of Düsseldorf in 1984.

In 2003, Lehne became the chairman of the CDU Kreisverband Düsseldorf. Upon nomination as Member of the European Court of Auditors in March 2014, he was succeeded in this function by Thomas Jarzombek.[4]

Member of the German Parliament, 1992–1994

In 1992, Lehne entered the German Bundestag replacing the deceased Hubert Doppmeier. At the German Bundestag, he was a member of the Transport Committee and the Committee on Legal Affairs. In addition, he took part in the Treuhand Investigative Committee and the SED committee of inquiry.[1]

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–2014

In the European Parliament election in 1994, Lehne was elected to become a member of the European Parliament.[3] Between 2009 and 2014, he held the position of chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs. He was also vice-chair of the interparliamentary delegation for relations with Russia and member of the delegation for relations with Japan.

At the European Parliament, Lehne served as rapporteur for the following EU legislative procedures in the field of company law:

As a rapporteur for European Contract Law, Lehne supported the preliminary academic work of the so-called Common Frame of Reference, which, as decided by the European Parliament at a resolution in December 2007, would form the basis for an optional instrument. This instrument would give parties involved in cross-border business the option to make use of European contract law instead of national contract law.[10]

Lehne was also rapporteur on the issue of Collective Redress. In his report, he called on cartel victims to be entitled to compensation.[11] However, he argued that this compensation should not follow the example of a claims industry as in the United States.[12]

A complete list of the files for which Lehne was rapporteur is available here for the 7th parliamentary term (2009-2014)[13] and for the 6th parliamentary term (2004-2009).[14]

European Court of Auditors, 2014–present

In early 2014, the German government nominated Lehne as the German member of the European Court of Auditors for six years; following a positive opinion by a majority of the European Parliament[15] the Council appointed him as Member. He served in Chamber III, which is responsible for auditing external EU policies.[1] Lehne dealt, among other things, with the development of renewable energy in East Africa,[16] the ACP Investment Facility,[17] EU support for the fight against torture and the abolition of the death penalty.[18]

On 13 September 2016, Lehne was elected President of the European Court of Auditors, becoming its 11th President.[19] Under the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Auditors, the President shall: (a) call and chair meetings of the Court and be responsible for the proper conduct of the sessions; (b) ensure that the Court's decisions are implemented; (c) ensure that the departments of the Court operate properly and that its various activities are soundly managed; (d) appoint an agent to represent the Court in all litigation in which the Court is involved; (e) represent the Court in its external relations, in particular in its relations with the discharge authority, the other institutions of the Union and the Member States’ audit institutions.[20]

On 12 September 2019, he was re-elected for a second term of three years running until 30 September 2022.[21]

On 23 October 2019 he presented the Court Annual Report for the Year 2018 to the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg.[22]

Recognition

  • Federal Cross of Merit (Federal Republic of Germany)
  • High State Award of the Republic of Poland
  • Honorary chairman of the CDU Düsseldorf
  • Doctor Honoris Causa at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies[23][24]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Curriculum Vitae of Klaus-Heiner Lehne" (PDF). Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "Klaus-Heiner Lehne re-elected President of the European Court of Auditors". www.eca.europa.eu. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  3. 1 2 "Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "Parliament endorses Klaus-Heiner Lehne's European Court of Auditors nomination, 4 February 2014". 2 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "Directive on takeover bids". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "Directive on cross-border mergers of limited liability companies". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "Directive amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC on the annual accounts of certain types of companies, 83/349/EEC on consolidated accounts, 86/635/EEC on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of banks and other financial institutions and 91/674/EEC on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of insurance undertakings". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "Directive on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in listed companies". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  9. ↑ "European Parliament legislative resolution of 10 March 2009 on the proposal for a Council regulation on the Statute for a European private company". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "European Parliament resolution of 12 December 2007 on European contract law". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  11. ↑ "Towards a Coherent European Approach to Collective Redress".
  12. ↑ "Collective redress (debate), 26 March 2009".
  13. ↑ "Reports - as rapporteur - 7th parliamentary term | Klaus-Heiner LEHNE | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  14. ↑ "Reports - as rapporteur - 6th parliamentary term | Klaus-Heiner LEHNE | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  15. ↑ Dave Keating (February 4, 2014), MEPs back Lehne for Court of Auditors European Voice.
  16. ↑ "Special Report No 15/2015: ACP–EU Energy Facility support for renewable energy in East Africa".
  17. ↑ "Special Report No 14/2015: The ACP Investment Facility: does it provide added value?".
  18. ↑ "Special report No 9/2015: EU support for the fight against torture and the abolition of the death penalty".
  19. ↑ "Klaus-Heiner Lehne elected President of the European Court of Auditors, 13 September 2016".
  20. ↑ "Legal Framework | EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS". www.eca.europa.eu. 1993. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  21. ↑ Klaus-Heiner Lehne re-elected President of the European Court of Auditors European Court of Auditors, press release of September 12, 2019.
  22. ↑ ECA President Lehne presents the ECA 2018 Annual Report to the European Parliament Plenary, archived from the original on 2021-12-12, retrieved 2019-11-08
  23. ↑ "Declaration of Interests" (PDF). 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  24. ↑ Ramona Mănescu [@RamonaManescu] (October 30, 2019). "Congratulations to Klaus-Heiner Lehne, the President of the European Court of Auditors, awarded Doctor Honoris Causa at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. His substantial contributions consolidated EU economic relations through transparency & accountability" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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