Pierre Jonckheer

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).