César Luena

César Luena López (born 29 October 1980) is a Spanish politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He was a member of the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th terms of the Congress of Deputies in representation of La Rioja.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Luena and the second or maternal family name is López.

César Luena
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
2 July 2019
ConstituencySpain
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office
2008–2019
ConstituencyLa Rioja
Member of the Parliament of La Rioja
In office
2007–2008
Personal details
Born29 October 1980 (1980-10-29) (age 42)
Logroño, Spain
Political partySpanish Socialist Workers' Party

Early life and education

Born in Logroño on 29 October 1980,[1][2][3][n. 1] A student in a rural school vis-à-vis his early education,[6] he took his highschool education in Nájera.[4] He earned a licentiate degree in Humanities at the University of La Rioja (UR) in 2003.

Political career

Early beginnings

Luena joined the Socialist Youth at age 17 and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) when he was 20 years old.[6]

After becoming Secretary General of the Socialist Youth of La Rioja region in 2002,[4][7] Luena served as municipal councillor in Bobadilla from 2003 to 2007.[8] Also active in college organizations at the national level, he was a member of the Federation of Progressive Students of Spain (2004–2007) and the Consejo Escolar del Estado (2006–2007).[5]

Luena ran 13th in the PSOE list for the 2007 regional election in La Rioja and,[9] elected, he served as member of the regional legislature from 2007 to 2008.[4] He was designated as head of the PSOE list in La Rioja to the Lower House for the 2008 general election,[10] becoming a member of the 9th term of the Congress of Deputies. He renovated his seat for the 10th, 11th and 12th terms.[7]

In 2012, Luena was elected as the Secretary General of the regional branch of PSOE, the PSOE La Rioja.[4] In March 2014, he earned a PhD at the UR reading a dissertation titled Antonio Larrea: el alma del Rioja ("Antonio Larrea: The Soul of La Rioja"), supervised by José Luis Gómez Urdáñez.[11]

Career in national politics

After Pedro Sánchez became the PSOE leader in July 2014, the latter chose Luena as Secretary of Organization of the party.[12] A member of Sánchez's inner circle during the later's first spell as party leader,[13] he left the post after the political "defenestration" of Sánchez during the 2016 PSOE crisis in the Autumn of 2016 and the ensuing installation of an interim board; he was one of the sanchistas who distanced from their former leader, showing indifference towards Sánchez during the latter's intervention at the second investiture session of Mariano Rajoy as Prime Minister in October 2016.[14]

Luena sided with Patxi López in regard of the May 2017 PSOE leadership election.[13] He found himself on the losing side of the primary election after the unexpected win of Sánchez over Susana Díaz and López,[15] and soon after, in July 2017, he was replaced as leader of the PSOE La Rioja by Francisco Ocón,[16] thus his political clout was reduced to his deputy seat obtained at the June 2016 general election.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

Sánchez found a place for his former right-hand in the 11th slot of the PSOE electoral list for the May 2019 European Parliament election in Spain[17] with Luena being finally included in the 10th place of the list after Sami Naïr (prospective #3) was barred from contesting the election by the Junta Electoral Central.[18][19] Elected as MEP,[20]

In parliament, Luena is part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) political group. He joined the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). In this capacity, he was the parliament's rapporteur on the EU's strategy for biodiversity (2021), calling for legally binding measures to halve the use of chemical pesticides, cut fertilizer use by 20% and expand protected areas of land and sea by 2030,[21] and nature restoration regulation (2023).[22]

In addition to his committee assignments, Luena also became a member of the parliament's delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula (DKOR), assuming a vice-chair role.[2] He is also a member of the Spinelli Group.[23]

References
Informational notes
  1. Other sources place his birth in Bobadilla,[4][5] the small village where he was raised.
Citations
  1. Forcada, D (24 August 2014). "Quién es quién en el nuevo equipo de Pedro Sánchez en el Congreso de los Diputados". www.elconfidencial.com. El Confidencial.
  2. "César Luena". www.europarl.europa.eu. European Parliament. 29 October 1980.
  3. "Encuentros digitales y entrevistas. César Luena". www.20minutos.es. 20minutos. 29 January 2015.
  4. "César Luena, un rostro joven fraguado en movimientos estudiantiles, número dos del PSOE". RTVE. 25 July 2014.
  5. "Luena, un hombre de partido que se fraguó en los movimientos estudiantiles". ABC. 25 July 2014.
  6. Cruz, Marisa (15 December 2015). "César Luena, un motor a reacción en la cúpula de Ferraz". www.elmundo.es. El Mundo.
  7. "XII Legislatura (2016-2019). Luena López, César". www.congreso.es. Congress of Deputies.
  8. Sánchez, Manuel (25 July 2015). "César Luena, 'el baroncito'". www.publico.es. Público.
  9. Junta Electoral de la Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja: "Proclamación de candidaturas para las elecciones al Parlamento de La Rioja a celebrar el día 27 de mayo de 2007" (PDF). Boletín Oficial de La Rioja (59). 1 May 2007.
  10. Juntas Electorales Provinciales: "Candidaturas proclamadas para las elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados y al Senado, convocadas por Real Decreto 33/2008, de 14 de enero" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado. CCCXLVIII (37): 7659. 12 February 2008. ISSN 0212-033X.
  11. "César Luena obtiene el grado de doctor por la UR". Universidad de La Rioja. 14 March 2014.
  12. Díez, Anabel (25 July 2014). "César Luena, elegido nuevo secretario de organización del PSOE". El País.
  13. Castro, Irene (19 June 2017). "Pedro Sánchez prescinde de la vieja guardia y rompe con los exsecretarios de organización". www.eldiario.es. eldiario.es.
  14. Romero, Juanma (28 October 2016). "El PSOE asiste al "papelón" de Hernando y mide la capacidad de arrastre de Sánchez". www.elconfidencial.com. El Confidencial.
  15. "Frialdad vs euforia en las redes sociales tras la victoria de Sánchez". www.elmundo.es. El Mundo. 22 May 2017.
  16. Alacid, Jorge (29 July 2017). "El PSOE clausura la era Luena". www.larioja.com. La Rioja.
  17. Asunción, Fernand (17 March 2019). "Sánchez rescata a César Luena para las elecciones europeas". Voz Pópuli.
  18. Gálvez, J.J. (7 May 2019). "Sami Naïr se cae de la lista del PSOE para las europeas". El País.
  19. Junta Electoral Central: "Resolución de 29 de abril de 2019, de la Presidencia de la Junta Electoral Central, de proclamación de candidaturas a las elecciones de diputados al Parlamento Europeo convocadas por Real Decreto 206/2019, de 1 de abril, a celebrar el 26 de mayo de 2019" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (103): 46867–46920. 30 April 2019. ISSN 0212-033X.
  20. "Lista de los 54 eurodiputados elegidos este domingo en España". www.lavanguardia.com. La Vanguardia. 27 May 2019.
  21. Kate Abnett (June 9, 2021), EU needs legally binding targets to protect nature, lawmakers say Reuters.
  22. Louise Guillot and Eddy Wax (15 June 2023), EU conservatives fail to kill nature restoration bill — for now Politico Europe.
  23. Board & Members Spinelli Group.
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