Career in state politics • Former member of the Land executive of the Young Union,
North Rhine-Westphalia • 1991-1997: District Chairman of the Junge Union • Member of the Land executive of the CDU,
North Rhine-Westphalia • 1989-1994: Member of Bestwig local council
Member of the European Parliament, 1994–present Liese sits on the
European Parliament's
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, where he serves as the
European People's Party Group’s coordinator. In this capacity, he was responsible for writing reports on including aviation within the
European Union Emission Trading Scheme (2007) and an ETS reform (2021). In 2020, he also joined the Special Committee on Beating Cancer. Between 2000 and 2001, he served on the European Parliament’s Temporary Committee on Human Genetics and Other New Technologies in Modern Medicine. Liese is a substitute for the
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, a member of the Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America and a substitute for the Delegation to the
EU-
Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee. He was part of the Parliament's delegations to the
2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Poznań, to the
2013 United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Warsaw and to the
2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Marrakesh. In addition, Liese serves as member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals and of the European Parliament Intergroup on Biodiversity, Countryside, Hunting and Recreational Fisheries. Previously, he was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity. In 2014, he supported
Françoise Grossetête’s proposal to establish a European Parliament Intergroup on Health for Citizens, including stakeholders such as the European Cancer Patients Association and the Organisation for European Cancer Institutes. Liese has also been chairing the
EPP Health Ministers Meeting (alongside
Stella Kyriakides), which gathers the center-right EPP ministers ahead of meetings of the
Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO). He is a member of the EPP Working Group on Bioethics and Human Dignity.
Role in national politics From 2012 until 2018, Liese was a member of the CDU leadership under the party’s successive chairwomen
Angela Merkel (2012-2018) and
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (2018). In the negotiations to form a
Grand Coalition of Merkel's Christian Democrats (
CDU together with the Bavarian
CSU) and the SPD following the
2013 federal elections, he was part of the CDU delegation in the working group on
consumer protection. In similar negotiations following the
2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on energy, climate protection and the environment, led by
Armin Laschet,
Georg Nüßlein and
Barbara Hendricks. In the negotiations to form a
coalition government of the CDU and
Green Party under
Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst following the
2022 state elections, Liese led his party’s delegation in the working group on the environment, agriculture and consumer protection; his counterparts from the Green Party were
Jan-Niclas Gesenhues and
Norwich Rüße. ==Political positions==