Johannes Laitenberger

Johannes Laitenberger (born June 27, 1964 in Hamburg ) is a German lawyer, former EU official and acting judge at the court of the EU.

On May 29, 2019, Laitenberger was appointed judge at the EU Court of Justice by the representatives of the EU member states for a mandate of six years, starting on September 1, 2019, where he was sworn in on September 26, 2019. He is currently assigned to the 8th Chamber of the Court. Before that, he was Director General of the Directorate General for Competition (DG COMP) of the European Commission from September 1, 2015 to August 31, 2019 . From November 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015, he was Deputy Director General of the Legal Service of the European Commission with responsibility for institutional issues and from 2009 to 2014 he was Head of Cabinet of the then President of the EU Commission, José Manuel Barroso .

Life

Laitenberger went to school in Hamburg and Lisbon (Portugal) and passed the matriculation examination at the German School in Lisbon in 1982 . From 1982 to 1983 he studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon. From 1984 to 1985 he did basic military service with the Air Force in Essen and Beja (Portugal). From 1985 to 1990 he studied law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and passed the first state examination in 1990. In 1991 he worked in the administration of the German Bundestag. From 1991 to 1994 he did the legal preparatory service (legal traineeship) in the district of the Higher Regional Court of Cologne and in 1994 passed the second state examination in law. In addition, from 1991 to 1995 he worked part-time at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. a. from 1991 to 1993 at the chair of Josef Isensee .

After working for a law firm (1995) and an industrial association (1996), Laitenberger was appointed to the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels (Belgium) as an EU civil servant in 1996 after a general selection process . In 1999 he moved to the General Directorate for Competition of the EU Commission. When the EU Commission took office under President Romano Prodi, Viviane Reding , then Commissioner for Education, Culture, Audiovisual Politics, Youth and Sport, appointed him to her cabinet in 1999. As a cabinet member, Laitenberger was primarily responsible for audiovisual policy, competition and subsidy issues, as well as legal and institutional issues. In 2003 Reding appointed him head of cabinet.

When the European Commission took office under President José Manuel Barroso, Barroso appointed him to his cabinet in 2004, where he was a member of the cabinet from 2004 to 2005. a. was responsible for competition and state aid issues, legal and domestic policy as well as legal and institutional issues. In 2005 Barroso appointed Laitenberger as spokesman for the EU Commission and head of its spokesman service. After his re-election as Commission President for a second term in 2009, Barroso appointed him Head of Cabinet. He held this position from November 1, 2009 to October 31, 2014. On December 18, 2013, Laitenberger was appointed to the post of Deputy Director General of the Legal Service, responsible for institutional issues, which he filled in from November 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015, following an open selection process by the Commission.

On June 24, 2015 the Commission appointed him Director General of the Directorate General for Competition (DG COMP), effective September 1, 2015. In this capacity, he also represented the Commission on the Steering Committee of the International Competition Network . Since 2016 he has also been a member of the board of directors (Bureau) of the Competition Committee of the OECD. Laitenberger was appointed judge at the EU General Court on May 29, 2019 by the representatives of the EU member states for a mandate of six years starting on September 1, 2019. In connection with this, he announced his resignation from the management of the Directorate-General and his departure from the services of the Commission at the end of August 31, 2019.

Laitenberger is co-editor of the European Journal for Business Law (EuZW) and member of the Scientific Advisory Board (Conseil scientifique) of the Revue Concurrences; Until August 2019 he was also a member of the advisory board of the political debate magazine Civis mit Sonde .

He has been the holder of the Portuguese Order of Merit of the Infante Dom Henrique at the level of Grand Officer since 2014 .

Web links

• Presentation of the members of the EU court
• Information on the website of the Portuguese President about the award of the Order of Merit of the Infante Dom Henrique

Individual evidence

1. ↑ European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - European Commission appoints new Director-General to its department for international cooperation and development, reinforces top management across other departments. Retrieved July 26, 2019 .