Johannes Laitenberger

Johannes Laitenberger has been appointed General Court judge at the EU’s General Court, effective 1 September 2019. Since 2015 he was the Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition. Under the political guidance of Commissioner Vestager, he managed the Directorate-General within the framework set by its mission statement and work programme. He has been Deputy Director-General of the Commission’s Legal Service (2014-15), Head of Cabinet of President Barroso (2009-14), Spokesman of the European Commission (2005-09) and Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Reding (2003-04). Johannes Laitenberger started his career in the European Institutions in 1996 as an adviser in the General Secretariat of the Council. In 1999, he joined the Commission as a case handler in the Directorate-General for Competition (formerly DG IV) and soon became Member of Cabinet of Commissioner Reding (1999-2003). He studied Philosophy at the Portuguese Catholic University in Lisbon, and law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, and qualified as a German lawyer. He was born in Hamburg, Germany and grew up in Hamburg and Lisbon, Portugal.