Minister of Energy, Luxemburg / Presidency of the Benelux

Biography

Claude Turmes was appointed Minister for Energy and Minister for Spatial Planning on 5 December 2018. Before that, he was Secretary of State for Sustainable Development and Infrastructures.

Other political posts

Claude Turmes was a Member of the European Parliament from June 1999 to June 2018. He was the vice president of the parliamentary group of the Green Party in the European Parliament and was a member of the Committee on Environment, Health and Consumer Protection as well as a member of the Committee on Industry, Energy, Telecom and Research. He was the rapporteur of a large number of European directives, in particular on renewable energies, energy efficiency, the electricity market and climate plans, as well as on the European lobby register. From 2004 to 2018, he was the chairman of EUFORES (European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources), the Interparliamentary association for the promotion of renewable energies in Europe.

Prior to his election to the European Parliament, Claude Turmes was an activist and, later, he volunteered to lead various environmental associations. He has been active at both the European (Friends of the Earth Europe, the European Environmental Bureau) and national level. He was a member of the committee and vice president in charge of energy/climate and European affairs of the Mouvement Écologique Luxembourg from the late 1980's to 1999. He is the cofounder of Klimabündnis Lëtzebuerg.

Education and qualifications

After completing his secondary education, Claude Turmes graduated in physical and sport education from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve in 1983. Parallelly to his job, Claude Turmes studied environmental technologies at the Luxembourgish University Foundation in Arlon and finished his studies without the final thesis. Claude Turmes also attended numerous continuing education trainings in yoga.