Sandro Gozi, Deputy Secretary to the Prime Minister of Italy for European Affairs

Sandro Gozi is a Member of the Italian Parliament since 2006. Currently he is State Secretary at the Presidency in the Italian Government, in charge of European Affairs. In August 2013 he has been nominee vice-President of the Assembly of the Council of Europe, and from January to May 2014 he has been chosen as vice-president of the Socialist Group at the Assembly of the Council of Europe. From 2006 until 2008 he was the President of the parliamentary Committee on the Schengen, Europol and Immigration Affairs. Between 2008 and 2013 he was then appointed as group leader of the Democratic Party at the parliamentary Commission on EU policies and he was in charge at national level of EU policies for the Democratic Party. From September 2013, he is also an unpaid advisor to the Municipality of Rome on matters related to European funds and projects. From 1995 to 1996 he worked as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1996 at the European Commission he was in charge of the relationship with the European Parliament and he took part in the negotiations for the introduction of the Euro. Overall, he has worked as official at the European Commission for 10 years, dealing with institutional affairs, regional cooperation in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean, and matters related to education and culture. In particular, between 2000 and 2004, he was a member of the cabinet of EC President Romano Prodi, and afterward until 2005 he worked in the bureau of European policy advisers of President José Manuel Durao Barroso. In 2005 he worked as a diplomatic advisor of Nichi Vendola, President of the Italian region of Puglia, and then, from 2006 until 2008, as a European policies advisor in the new Prodi government. He is President of the Italy-India Association and between 2004 and 2010 he has been the deputy secretary-general of the European Democratic Party.