ECI DAY 2018: SPEAKERS

Georges DASSIS, president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

Georges Dassis, a Greek national, is the current President of the EESC. Prior to that, he was President of the Committee's Workers' group (2008-2015). Georges Dassis, who opposed the colonels' regime (1967-1974), has been a trade-union activist from the age of 15. During his stay in Belgium in the 1970s, he became a permanent member of the national staff of the Belgian General Federation of Labour (FGTB). Since 1981, he has been a representative of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) - where he has been on the executive committee since 1982 -, to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC, formerly ICFTU) and to the International Labour Office (ILO).  He is also one of the founder members of the GSEE's Labour Institute (1990) and its current secretary for international relations. He has served several terms of office at the EESC, first between 1981 and 1990, when he was president of the regional section, and from 2002 to the present, leading the ECO section between 2004 and 2008. At the EESC, Mr. Dassis has been rapporteur on opinions such as the European minimum income, Social dialogue in the Economic and Monetary Union and the Cost of non-Europe.

Dr Hubert FUCHS, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance

Dr Hubert Fuchs is State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Austria's Government. Between October 29th, 2013 until December 17th, 2017, when he was nominated, he had been member of the Austrian Parliament, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Subcommittee of the National Defence Committee, Member of the Committee on National Defence and Member of the Committee on Budget; Deputy Member of the National Security Council, Deputy Member of the Austrian Parliamentary Commission for the Federal Armed Forces. He is also Colonel and Military Advisor to the Chief of Defence Staff in the Federal Armed Forces. Until December 17th, 2017, he was Certified Tax Advisor. Mr Fuchs holds a Master and Doctoral degree in Business Administration from Vienna University of Economics and Business. He did Master and Doctoral Studies in Law at Paris Lodron University of Salzburg and studied macroeconomics at Eastern New Mexico University (USA).

Emily O'REILLY, European Ombudsman (2013 - today)

Emily O’Reilly was first elected as the European Ombudsman in July 2013.Following the European Parliament elections, she was re-elected for a five year mandate in December 2014. As the European Ombudsman she investigates maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union. For her work she was awarded the Schwarzkopf Europe Award in 2017. From 2003 until 2013, Ms O’Reilly was the first female Ombudsman and Information Commissioner in Ireland and was additionally appointed Commissioner for Environmental Information in 2007. As national Ombudsman Ms O’Reilly was conferred in 2008 with a Honorary Doctorate in Law by the National University in Ireland for her work in promoting human rights throughout her career. In 2014 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University College Dublin for her decade long commitment as Irish Ombudsman. As a former journalist, author and political editor Ms O’Reilly’s career attracted significant domestic and international recognition including a Harvard University Fellowship in 1988 and multiple national awards. She has written three critically acclaimed books on Irish politics and media and is a current member of the International Advisory Board of Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism. In the course of her journalistic career, she won two awards: Woman Journalist of the Year in 1986 and Journalist of the Year in 1994.

Monika PANAYOTOVA, Deputy Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2018 in charge of the European citizens' initiative portfolio.

Monika Panayotova has been appointed as Deputy Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2018, responsible for the relations with the European Parliament (the so-called - Ministre Délégué) since June 28, 2017. She is a Doctor of Political Science, with interests in the field of the EU security and defence policy. In the period 2009-2012, Monika Panayotova was member of 41st National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, chairwoman of Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds and member of the Foreign Policy and Defence Committee. During the period 2012 – 2014, she was a member of the European Parliament and participated in the Committee on Budgetary Control, the Committee on Culture and Education and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence. From 2014 to June 2017, Monika Panayotova was General Manager of Inno Advisers Ltd, a consultancy company, owned by Comac Medical Ltd., with main purpose – the development of innovative projects and concepts in the field of education, health and science. In that period she was as well member of the Advisory Council of Bulgarian Memory Foundation, Board member of Sofia Security Forum and Co-initiator and Board member of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for Bulgaria. In 2016, she was independent expert, Member of Horizon 2020 Advisory Group on "Spreading Excellence and Widening participation", European Commission. In the period 2006 – 2008, she was research fellow at Economic Policy Institute in Bulgaria and Director “Projects and Public Communications”. Monika Panayotova has publications on security and defence, NATO, European affairs and Common European security and Defence Policy.

Irini Ivoni PARI, member of the European Economic and Social Committee, president of the ECI ad hoc Group

She is Permanent Delegate of SEV-Hellenic Federation of Enterprises in Brussels, Member of the Committee of Permanent Delegates of BUSINESSEUROPE–Confederation of European Business and Member of the European Social Dialogue Committee since 1995. Member of the European Economic and Social Committee since 1998 in the Group I – Employers. Currently she is President of the European Citizens’ Initiative Sub-Committee, Coordinator and rapporteur of the Ad Hoc group on the future of the EESC,  Member of the Bureau of the European Migration Forum and Member of the Social and Economic Sections as well as of the group on integration and immigration . She has been Vice-President of the European Economic and Social Committee responsible for Communication (2008-2010), Vice-President of the Employers’ Group (2006-2008), Vice-President of the Social Section (2004-2008) and President of the Immigration and Integration working group (2013-2015). She has worked as an Advisor in the European Commission at the Secretariat General and the Directorate General for Competition on State Aids (1988-1994). She studied Political Science and International Relations at University of Panteion in Athens and European Studies at Institut d’Etudes Européennes at ULB in Βrussels. Born in Kinshasa, she has two children.

György SCHÖPFLIN, member of the European Parliament, rapporteur of the ECI report

György Schöpflin was formerly Professor of Politics at University College London (SSEES). He also taught at the London School of Economic. His most recent books are: The Dilemmas of Identities, Tallinn University Press 2010 and Politics, Illusions Fallacies, Tallinn University Press 2012. He currently serves as Member of the European Parliament for Hungary (Fidesz-EPP), EPP coordinator in AFCO committee, substitute member in CULT, AFET, SEDE committees and he was the ECI rapporteur for the EP in 2015. Currently he is the EP rapporteur on the ECI reform.

Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the EU Commission

2014-present First Vice-President of the EU Commission, in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights; 2012-14 Minister of Foreign Affairs; 2010-12 Member of the Dutch parliament, representing Partij van de Arbeid (Dutch Labour Party); 2007-10 Minister of European Affairs; 1998-2007 Member of the Dutch parliament, representing Partij van de Arbeid (Dutch Labour Party). For full biography, please see the official website of the Vice-President.

Julian VANKOV, Head of the Unit "Regional Database", Directorate-General Civil Registration and Administrative Services, Ministry of the Regional Development and Public Works

Julian Vankov is head of the Unit "Regional Databases" at the Directorate-General Civil Registration and Administrative Services (CRAS) within the Ministry of the Regional Development and Public Works of Bulgaria. In the period 1998-2010 he was an expert in CRAS. His Directorate-General is the competent national authority that certifies the statements of support from the Bulgarian citizens.  He holds a degree from Plovdiv University in mathematics and computer science (1996).

Eduardo ALVARADO, ECI: EU Citizenship for Europeans: United in Diversity in Spite of jus soli and jus sanguinis

Eduardo Alvarado was born in Mexico and lived in Kansas (USA) from age 12 to 25 before relocating to Vienna (Austria). He spent a semester at the Università di Bologna (Italy) and holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Philosophy from Kansas State University as well as a Master’s in Advanced International Studies from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. His motivation for the ECI “EU citizenship for Europeans” grew out of his life experiences with nationality and his Master’s thesis on EU Citizenship.

Jules BEJOT, representative of the ECI We are a welcoming Europe, let us help!

Jules Bejot is coordinating Migration Policy Group’s European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI): We are a Welcoming Europe, let us help!
The #WelcomingEurope ECI is aiming at gathering 1 million signatures to demand the EC to support European citizens who want to help refugees and migrants.

Simon BLACKLEY, Director, Head of Consulting, and European Parliament Account Manager at the European Service Network (ESN)

Simon Blackley leads the communication consulting practice at public sector communication agency, ESN. During his 20-year career in the field, he has led major digital communication projects for the European Commission’s DGs for Growth, Employment, Research and Communication, among others. Simon Blackley helps ESN’s clients to develop and implement communication strategies in the context of policy objectives and evolving audience expectations, with a strong focus on return on investment. He has planned and managed communication product portfolios and associated distribution and promotion campaigns. He conceived and led the 3-year Share Europe Online project, which placed young, digital native social media community managers to carry out coordinated local social media communication in the offices of the European Commission and the European Parliament in all 28 EU Member States, and to train and coach their staff. As well as the European Citizens’ Initiative Forum project, Simon also heads a major audiovisual framework contract for the European Parliament.

László BODOR, Campaign Coordinator for the ECI Minority SafePack

László Bodor is the campaign coordinator for the Minority SafePack Initiative, the European Citizens' Initiative coordinated by FUEN. He is from  Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Romania and is the executive vice president of RMDSZ – the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania. He took part in all of RMDSZ’s campaigns in local, regional, parliamentary and European Parliament elections since 2006. The former president of the Alliance’s youth organisation also has a vast experience in event organising: he was the festival director of Romania’s largest festival between 2009-2013 and he organised  congresses and electoral meetings. He was also the main organiser of FUEN’s 2017 congress in Cluj-Napoca.

Michel CERMAC, representative of the Stop TTIP campaign

Michel is in charge of research on commerce in the Belgian National Centre for Development Cooperation (Centre national de coopération au développement, CNCD-11.11.11). He was the representative for Belgium of the successful Stop TTIP & CETA campaign and is involved in the follow-up of the Stop TTIP campaign.

Maarten DE GROOT, Brussels representative for The ECI Campaign

Maarten de Groot is the Brussels-based Campaign Coordinator of The ECI Campaign / citizens-initiative.eu, an organization working towards the successful reform of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). Maarten has worked on the democratization of the European Union, first academically – as a primary focus in his studies in political philosophy – and now within civil society. Prior to his work for The ECI Campaign, he was actively involved in AEGEE / European Students’ Forum, most notably as Vice-President & External Relations Director in the International Board of 2016-2017. In that capacity, he was also involved in the organization of AEGEE’s ECI ‘More Than Education – Shaping Active and Responsible Citizens’.

Ana DEL PINO, coordinator of the ECI One of Us

Ana del Pino holds an M.A. in Law from the University of Law in Valencia, Spain. She works for M.B.A. Direction and management of NGOs and she is Vice-Secretary General of the Spanish Prolife Federation. She is a director and European coordinator of One Of Us Europe Federation.

Valérie GOMEZ-BASSAC, member of the French National Assembly, rapporteur of the citizens’ consultation on the Future of Europe

Valérie Gomez-Bassac is a lawyer, an associate professor of private law at Université de Toulon, and a députée (member of the Assemblée nationale, lower house of the French Parliament). She started her political involvement at the beginning of the French presidential campaign of 2017, and ran as an En Marche! candidate for the legislative election. She is a member of the Commission for cultural affairs and education and the Commission for European affairs of the French Assemblée nationale. She is the rapporteur of the citizens’ consultation on the Future of Europe and member of the dedicated steering committee.

Dr Dominik HIERLEMANN, Senior Project Manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung

Dr Dominik Hierlemann is a Senior Project Manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Germany and an expert in public participation and democracy. He has worked for the Bertelsmann Stiftung since 2004. Dominik was the project leader of the Citizens’Forum 2011, which has been the biggest project in the field of citizen engagement in Germany. It involved 25 cities, 100 online-facilitators and 10.000 participants. Since then he has created and carried out multiple civic engagement projects and facilitated large-scale events with the Federal President and the Chancellor, Angela Merkel. Dominik is a political scientist with a Master in Public Policy (MSc) and a doctoral degree (PhD) in Social Sciences. He has studied in Germany, France, Ireland and Poland and he is a frequent author and commentator on new forms of political engagement. Dominik has taught at the University of Constance, the University of Sydney and the International College of Management, Sydney.

Luca JAHIER, President of the European Economic and Social Committee.

Luca Jahier has been a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since 2002. Within the EESC, he has worked extensively on the European Union's social and cohesion policies as well as on international matters. In September 2004, he was elected vice-president of the EESC's Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship.In October 2006, he was elected vice-president of Group III, member of the Committee Bureau for two years and member of the EU-Croatia and EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committees.From October 2008 to 2010, he was president of the ACP-EU Follow-up Committee and president of the Permanent group on Immigration and Integration. In October 2011, he was elected president of Group III of the EESC, and was re-elected in January 2013 and in October 2015. In this capacity, he has been a member of the EESC's Bureau. Over the course of three terms in office as president, Group III carried out nine studies, and held 42 conferences in 17 EU countries attended by thousands of people and countless meetings with European civil society organisations. He was nominated unanimously by Group III for the post of EESC's President for the April 2018 - September 2020 mandate.

Kinga JOÓ, member of the European Economic and Social Committee, rapporteur of the EESC opinion on the proposal for ECI Regulation

Kinga Joó is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee since 2010. She is taking part in the work of the SOC and REX sections and she is member of the ECI sub-committee. She was rapporteur of the EESC opinion adopted in March 2018 on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European citizens' initiative. Her background is in social civil society organizations in Hungary. She is elected member of the board – for the third term – of the National Civil Cooperation Fund. She is also vice-president of the largest family organization in Hungary, the National Association of Large Families (NOE).

Assya KAVRAKOVA, Executive Director, European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)

Assya Kavrakova is the Director of the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), an international non-profit organization, based in Brussels, with a pan-European membership and 27 years of experience in EU citizens’ rights enforcement and civic participation in the EU decision-making process. Before joining ECAS in 2012, Assya served as the Director of European Policies and the Civic Participation Program at the Open Society Institute (OSI-S) in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 2000 to 2012. At the OSI-S in Sofia, Ms. Kavrakova was also responsible for leading the analytical and research activity of the European Policies Initiative. She personally authored the paper: “The Unfinished Business of the Fifth Enlargement Countries”.

Elisa LIRONI, Digital Democracy Manager for the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)

Elisa Lironi develops and leads ECAS’ Digital Democracy agenda by implementing EU projects and research studies in this focus area. She managed the project Digital Ecosystem for E-Participation Linking Youth (Erasmus+ programme) and coordinates ECAS’ part in the EUCROWD (Europe for Citizens programme). Her most recent publications includes the “Potential and Challenges of E-Participation in the EU” (2016) for the European Parliament and “EU Public Consultations in the Digital Age: Enhancing the Role of the EESC and Civil Society Organisations” (2017) for the EESC. She is currently working on research projects on crowdsourcing at the EU level and supports the European Commission’s development of the European Citizens’ Initiative Online Collaborative Platform.

Petar MARKOVIĆ, transnational academic and activist (GEM PhD School / University of Oxford, Act4FreeMovement)

Petar Marković is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree PhD Fellow in Political Theory and Political Science of the ‘Globalisation, Europe, Multilateralism’ (GEM) PhD School based at the Université Libre de Bruxelles & Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali LUISS in Rome. Currently he is conducting research at the University of Oxford with affiliations to St Antony's College, the European Studies Centre (ESC) and the Department of Politics and International Relations. His thesis and recent publications focus on the democratic deficit of the EU and the potential of the ECI to alleviate it. This research transposes political culture research to the transnational arena of the EU and contributes to the development of the democratic theory of the European Union. Petar’s research interests include political theory, European studies and moral philosophy. The idea to bring together dispersed social actors committed to enhancing EU citizenship through ECIs was born out of Petar’s ongoing engagement with a transnational network of civic activists in Act4FreeMovement – a collaborative initiative led by ECAS and European Alternatives in partnership with Gothenburg Rescue Mission, EU Rights Clinic, Krytyka Polityczna and the Good Lobby. He had previously worked as Teaching Assistant at the University of Belgrade in Serbia and the University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro and the Centre for European Integration of the Belgrade Open School in Serbia.

Elinne MERTENS, External Relations Manager for the ECI "More than Education"

Elinne Mertens graduated last year in law and works now for the Common Community Commission in Brussels. During her studies, she was active in AEGEE / European Students’ Forum. Operating without a national level, AEGEE brings students from 40 different countries directly in touch with each other, and doing so puts the ideal of a borderless Europe in practice. In 2016-2017, AEGEE run an ECI on civic education under the name “More Than Education - Shaping Active and Responsible Citizens”. Elinne joined the core group of the ECI as external relations manager.

Niccolo MILANESE, co-president of the European Alternatives.

Niccolo Milanese is director of European Alternatives, a transnational civil society organisation promoting democracy, equality and culture beyond the nation state since 2007. He was born to Italian and British parents in London, and lives in France. He is the author of 'Citizens of Nowhere', published by Zed books in May 2018. Educated in Cambridge, Siena and Paris, he worked as a researcher and writer before starting European Alternatives. He currently chairs the civic space and fundamental rights working group of Civil Society Europe, is on the board of ECIT foundation for European Citizenship, and a member of the advisory board of NECE, Networking European Citizenship Education.

Kalypso NICOLAÏDIS, Professor of International Relations and director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Oxford

Kalypso Nicolaïdis was previously associate professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She is chair of South-eastern European Studies at Oxford and Council member of the European Council of Foreign Relations. In 2012-2013, she was Emile Noel-Straus Senior Fellow at NYU Law School (2012-2013). In 2008-2010, she was a member of the Gonzales reflection group on the future of Europe 2030 set up by the European Council. She also served as advisor on European affairs to George Papandreou in the 90s and early 2000s, the Dutch government in 2004, the UK government, the European Parliament, the European Commission, OECD and UNCTAD. She has published widely on international relations, global governance, trade ethics, law and democracy promotion, as well as the internal and external aspects of European integration in numerous journals including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Public Policy and International Organization. Her last books are Echoes of Empire: Memory, Identity and Colonial Legacies (ed w/ Sebe and Maas, IB Tauris), Normative Power Europe Revisited (ed w/ Whitman, Journal Conflict and Cooperation) and European Stories: Intellectual Debates on Europe in National Context (ed w/ Lacroix, OUP, 2010).  She is a graduate of Sciences-Po (1982) and received her PhD from Harvard in 1993. More information –including publications- can be found on her website.

Alvaro OLEART, a PhD fellow at the Université libre de Bruxelles

Alvaro Oleart is a PhD researcher in political communication at the Institute for European Studies of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (IEE-ULB). His academic research is focused on the role of civil society in the EU policy-making process and the legitimacy of the EU as a polity. In particular, his PhD deals with the way in which TTIP was discussed in the media in France, Spain and the UK. He is also a member of the ARC project ValEUR. Prior to his PhD research, he has obtained an MA in communication from the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and an Executive master degree in European political communication from IHECS (Institut des Hautes Études des Communications Sociales).

Dr James ORGAN, lecturer at the School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool

He works and researches in the area of EU participatory democracy, particularly the European Citizens Initiative. Recent publications include EU Citizen Participation, Openness and the European Citizens Initiative: The TTIP legacy in the Common Market Law Review, and an edited collection titled ''Democratic Participation in a Citizen’s Europe: What Next for the EU?' is due out later this year. James has recently worked as special adviser to the EESC for their opinion on the ECI legislative revision. James also works extensively with civil society organisations in the area of participatory democracy. He is currently leading a ‘Europe for Citizens’ funded project to hold a citizens assembly on the future of EU democratic participation made up of mini publics in four EU member states and online deliberation through partnership with WeMove, and concluding with a conference in Liverpool in December 2018 presenting learning from the project and citizen participation experiences across the EU.

Dr Sebastian REIMER, representative of the ECI Stop Extremism

Sebastian Reimer is a lawyer with a doctorate and a software developer. He helped bring innovative projects to fruition - such as the Electronic Health Record in Austria or a science-friendly adaption of Austrian law in the context of the General Data Protection Regulation - with his expertise in constitutional and Union law. As a former employee of the Constitutional Service of the Austrian Federal Chancellery, he was able to acquire five years of intensive practice in the area of fundamental rights. Now this knowledge is his contribution to STOP EXTREMISM for a peaceful and economically stable Europe.

Pablo SÁNCHEZ CENTELLAS, representative of the ECI Right2Water

Born in Barcelona in 1978, studied Political Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Sussex University and the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He lives in Brussels since 2008. From August 2010 until September 2015 has been responsible for campaigns European Federation of Public Service Unions and jointly responsible for the first successful European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) on the human right to water. In September 2015 he was appointed Director of International Relations of the City Council until he returned to Brussels in this year. EPSU organizes unions in the electricity, gas, water and waste sectors has recently published a joint paper on the right to energy.

Daniel SCHILY, co-founder of Democracy International

As a democracy activist for more than 30 years, Daniel supported lobbying efforts for the European Citizens’ Initiative at the 2002-03 EU Convention. As a result, he co-founded the ECI Support Centre together with ECAS and Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe with the role of campaigning expert. Aside from the ECI, Daniel founded Mehr Demokratie NRW and is a co-founding member of Democracy International e.V. and the Initiative Demokratie Entwickeln (IDEE e.V.). He successfully lobbied the introduction of the citizens’ initiative in the state constitution of North Rhine Westphalia with Mehr Demorkratie NRW.  Daniel has many years of activism in various political campaigns and initiatives and is a board member of several national and international organizations including the National Association of Mehr Demokratie, Columban Foundation, Parliament Watch, Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe, and The Elephant Project.

David SCHWARTZ, Senior Campaigner, WeMove.EU - Brussels

David is a Senior Campaigner at WeMove.EU, where he runs campaigns on various progressive issues, working closely with the rest of the campaigns team. Previously, David coordinated the Stop Glyphosate European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), the fastest ECI to ever meet the legal requirements for success. Before working with WeMove.EU, David worked in communications, research, and digital with non-profits on a variety of issue-based campaigns, including on the debate surrounding the UK’s EU referendum result, minority rights in Israel, and the World Bank social and environmental safeguard policy review. David also represents WeMove.EU on the steering committee of the Welcoming Europe ECI.

Anthony SIMPSON, representative of the ECI Retaining European Citizenship

Anthony Simpson studied at the universities of Nottingham and Oxford, where he studied Russian and East European History at St Antony’s College. He holds dual Irish and UK nationality. In 1980, Ken Coates invited him to join the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation to work on the European Nuclear Disarmament campaign, which helped give rise to the Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement of 1987, which was followed in 1989 by the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Anthony assisted Ken Coates for ten years to 1999 while he was a Member of the European Parliament. Anthony edits The Spokesman, which is the journal of the Russell Foundation. He is the representative of a European Citizens’ Initiative entitled ‘Retaining European Citizenship’, which was welcomed by Michel Barnier in March 2017. The Initiative continues to gather endorsements from European citizens in the EU 28.

Guillermo MARTÍNEZ SUAREZ, member of the European Committee of the Regions, Minister of the Presidency of the Principality of Asturias, rapporteur on EU Citizens report 2017

Guillermo Martínez Suarez, Oviedo (Spain) 1975. From 2012  he is Regional  Minister in Principality of Asturias region. His department is in charge of European Affairs, justice, democracy, transparency, citizenship, gender balance, and coordination of the public policies. As member of CoR (from 2012)  he is active in the ECON and CIVEX Committees, and PES political group. In 2017 he was the CoR rapporteur of the Opinion EU Citizenship Report 2017. He was Mayor of City of Siero from 2011 to 2012. He holds a Geography Degree by Oviedo University and Master Degree in Democracy and Public Policies by UNED, Spain. He is a member of Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE).

Josep-Maria TERRICABRAS, member of the European Parliament / Greens

Dr. Josep-Maria Terricabras is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Girona (Catalonia) and a member of several Academies of Sciences (Catalan Academy, New York Academy and Leibniz Sozietät von Wissenschaften zu Berlin). He was an academic fellow at Münster, at St. John's College (Cambridge) and at Berkeley (California). He works on contemporary philosophy, particularly logic, philosophy of language, theory of knowledge and ethics. He has published over sixty books and articles, and translated into Catalan works of Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, Freud, and Matthew Lipman. He served for two terms as Chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee of PEN International (2008-2014).

He is currently Member of the European Parliament (since 2014), elected as independent on the list of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya. He is also President of the European Free Alliance and first Vice-president of the Greens-EFA Group.

Daniela VANCIC, European Program Manager for Democracy International

Daniela Vancic develops the European projects of Democracy International, including being responsible for all activities related to the European Citizens’ Initiative. Before joining the team of Democracy International last spring, she worked as a campaign manager for the Michigan Democratic Party and worked in the human rights department of the Serbian Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. She received her master’s degree in International Relations at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations and holds Serbian and USA citizenships.