Klaus-Heiner Lehne

Since 1 March 2014, Klaus-Heiner Lehne (born 28 October 1957 in Düsseldorf, Germany) is a Member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) and on 1 October 2016 became its 11th President. Beforehand, he was a member of the European Parliament for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In his previous national and European parliamentary career, spanning more than twenty years, he served among other things from 2009-2014 as Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs and concurrently as Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs.

Candidadature poster for the 1987 Bundestag election

After his A levels, Klaus-Heiner 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, which he held until joining the ECA in 2014. At the same time, Lehne pursued his political career, already commencing towards the end of his studies, when becoming a member of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf in 1984. Eight years later, in 1992, Lehne was then appointed a member of 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. Subsequently, during the European Parliament election in 1994, Lehne was elected to become a member of the European Parliament. His brother Olaf Lehne is a member of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2005.

Activities

During his time at the European Parliament, Lehne was especially involved as a lawmaker in legal and economic issues. Furthermore, between 2009 and 2014, he held the position of chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs. A complete list of all of Klaus-Heiner Lehne’s political and parliamentary activities during his time at the European Parliament can be found on his official page.

Company Law

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

• Takeover-directive
• Merger directive
• Balance directives
• Shareholders’ rights directive
• Statute of the European private company

Contract 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.

Collective Redress

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

In 1975, Klaus-Heiner Lehne joined the CDU and in 2003, 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.

Since March 2014, Klaus-Heiner Lehne is a member of the European Court of Auditors. He served in Chamber III, which is responsible for auditing external EU policies. Lehne dealt, among other things, with the development of renewable energy in East Africa, the ACP Investment Facility, EU support for the fight against torture and the abolition of the death penalty. On 13 September 2016, Klaus-Heiner Lehne was elected President of the European Court of Auditors, becoming its 11th President.

• Federal Cross of Merit
• Honorary chairman of the CDU Düsseldorf
• Member of the Board of Trustees at the Academy of European Law, Trier