Early beginnings Luena joined the
Socialist Youth at age 17 and the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) when he was 20 years old. After becoming Secretary General of the Socialist Youth of
La Rioja region in 2002, Luena served as municipal councillor in
Bobadilla from 2003 to 2007. 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 (2006–2007). Luena ran 13th in the PSOE list for the
2007 regional election in La Rioja and, elected, he served as member of the
regional legislature from 2007 to 2008. becoming a member of the 9th term of the
Congress of Deputies. He renovated his seat for the 10th, 11th and 12th terms.
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. A member of Sánchez's inner circle during the later's first spell as party leader, Luena sided with
Patxi López in regard of the
May 2017 PSOE leadership election. He found himself on the losing side of the primary election after the unexpected win of Sánchez over
Susana Díaz and López, and soon after, in July 2017, he was replaced as leader of the PSOE La Rioja by , 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 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. Elected as MEP, 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, and nature restoration regulation (2023). 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. He is also a member of the
Spinelli Group. ==References==