Speakers

Stella Kyriakides 

European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides leads the work to put in place the foundations of a European Health Union. She is also responsible for the “Farm to Fork” strategy for sustainable food production and consumption.

Commissioner Kyriakides has been at the forefront of the EU public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and EU efforts to support Ukraine and its people in the area of health.

Throughout her career, she has been a longstanding advocate for women’s, children’s and patients’ rights, and for better mental health.

Johannes Rauch, Federal Minister of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection

Political Career

• Since March 2022 – Federal Minister of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection
• October 2014 – March 2022 Member of the Provincial Government of Vorarlberg
• 2004 – 2014 Chairperson of the parliamentary group of the Green Party in the Provincial Parliament
• 2000 – 2014 Member of the Provincial Parliament of Vorarlberg
• 1997 – 2021 Spokesperson of the executive committee of the Green Party in Vorarlberg
• 1990 – 1996 Responsible for environmental affairs in the town council of Rankweil in Vorarlberg
• Since 1985 Involvement with the Green Party

Professional Experience

• 1997 – 2004 Employment Initiative for the district of Feldkirch (ABF)
• 1986 – 1997 Social worker in the fields of social psychiatry, support for the unemployed and debt advice
• 1981 – 1985 Active in the Roman Catholic Parish of Rankweil
• 1976 – 1980 Bank employee, Volksbank Rankweil

Education and training

• 1983 – 1987 Academy for Social Work, Bregenz Qualified social worker
• 1980 Alternative civilian service with the Red Cross
• 1973 – 1976 Commercial college, Feldkirch
• 1969 – 1973 Secondary school, Rankweil
• 1965 – 1969 Primary school, Rankweil

Baiba Miltovica has been appointed in 2020 President of the “Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and Information Society” Section (TEN) of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). At the same time, Ms Miltovica serves as Board Member of the Latvian National Association for Consumer Protection (LPIAA) and actively co-operates with the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) on the European Commission Horizon 2020 and DG Justice and Consumers projects. She is member of the European Consumer Consultative Group (ECCG) of the European Commission, subgroup on Energy and Sub-Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI), connected products and other new challenges in product safety.

In her previous mandate at the EESC, Ms Miltovica held a position as Vice-President of the Diversity Europe Group of the European Economic and Social Committee and was an active member of TEN, appointed Rapporteur of 6 opinions (on energy and climate policy, energy performance of buildings, internal gas market, heating and cooling, etc.) and of the Single Market, Production and Consumption Section (INT) and Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion Section (ECO) of the EESC.

At the national level Baiba Miltovica continues to fulfil responsibilities in the LPIAA and is Member of the Advisory Board of the Latvian Public Utilities Commission.

Ms Miltovica holds a degree in political science and lectures at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Economics and Social Development.

Sandra Gallina joined the European Commission in 1988. She is today Director General for HEALTH & FOOD SAFETY.

Before joining DG SANTE, between 2018 and 2020 she was Deputy Director General for TRADE.

Between 2014 and 2018 she was Director for DG TRADE Directorate D “Sustainable Development; Economic Partnership Agreements - African, Caribbean and Pacific; Agri-food and Fisheries”. Sandra Gallina was also the EU chief negotiator for the EU-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement.

Between 2001 and 2009 she was the EU Lead Negotiator for Non-Agricultural Market Access in the WTO Doha Round and in that capacity, she defined and presented EU policy for the Doha Development Agenda on non-agricultural market access negotiations.

Before joining DG TRADE, she worked in the Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) at the end of the 1990s.

Oliver Röpke was elected as the president of the EESC in April 2023. Member of EESC since 2009, Mr Röpke was the president of the EESC Workers' Group, a member of the EESC Bureau and rapporteur of many EESC resolutions and opinions on employment and social policy, single market and innovation.

Mr Röpke headed the Brussels office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and took on several senior positions including as ÖGB representative to the EU institutions, the Executive Committee of the ETUC, and an advisory member of the ÖGB federal executive board. Mr Röpke has a legal background and holds a law degree from the University of Vienna.

Pr Sabine Stordeur, Director General of DG Health Care at FPS Public Health

She earned a Bachelor of Nursing in 1990, followed by a Master's in Public Health in 1994 and a PhD in Public Health focusing on Healthcare Institutions Management in 2001, all from UCLouvain.

Transitioning from academia at UCLouvain to the Belgian Healthcare Knowledge Center (KCE) in 2007, she served as a senior expert in Clinical & Health Services Research. Contributing significantly to approximately 50 reports and shaping clinical guidelines, particularly in oncology and quality of care projects, she later became the Scientific Program Director at KCE from 2019 to 2023. During the Covid-19 pandemics, she managed the Taskforce Vaccination Covid-19 for the Belgian Federal Government, and later led the Taskforce Therapeutics for Viral Diseases until August 2023.

Currently, she holds esteemed positions as Director General of DG Health Care at FPS Public Health and as a Professor at the Faculty of Public Health, UCLouvain.

Irene Norstedt works at the European Commission where she is the Director responsible for the People Directorate within the DG for Research and Innovation.

The People Directorate  works towards the development of a healthy, safe, more equal, free, open and fair society, where the voice of the citizen and different communities are better heard.

Irene has been at the European Commission since 1996, and has worked on various aspects of research in life sciences and particular health research throughout her career in the Commission. Areas of particular interest have been the set up of the public private partnership the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC),

Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked for the Swedish life science company Biacore AB and at the Swedish embassy in London.

Irene studied at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and University of Sussex, and holds a Master of Science (MsC) in Chemical Engineering.

Philippe Roux
Acting Director ‘Public Health, Cancer and Health Security’ and Head of Unit ‘Cancer, Health in all Policies’, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, European Commission.
Mr Roux started his career in the French Social sector in 1985. During the same time, he studied social sciences, European law and Public Health. He worked with DG V (Employment and Social Affairs) from 1990 to 1998 in support of the development of EU initiatives related to drug prevention. In September 1998, he joined the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction where he contributed to the development of the framework and tools for the evaluation of the EU action plans on drugs. He was nominated deputy Head of Unit of the “Interventions, law and policy” Unit of the Agency In 2002. In 2005, he joined the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, where he worked in the Nutrition and Physical Activity team of the Health Determinants Unit on the coordination of the European Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. In July 2013, he became Head of Unit of the Health Determinants Unit. Subsequently, he was nominated Head of Unit of the ‘Country Knowledge and Scientific Committees’ unit in March 2016, and later Head of Unit for ‘Health Information and Integration in all policies’ in October 2020. In October 2022, he became Head of Unit for ‘Cancer, Health in all Policies’ with the mission to implement policies and organise activities to achieve the objectives of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and to ensure the EU’s overall health policy objectives are taken on board in EU policies. On 1 September 2023, Mr Roux was nominated Acting Director ‘Public Health, Cancer and Health Security’.

Till Voigtländer is associate professor of neurobiology and neurosciences at the Department of Neurology, Division of Neuropathology and Neurochemistry, Medical University of Vienna. After studying medicine in Heidelberg, Germany, he received his professional training in molecular biology, neuropathology, neurochemistry and neuroimmunology at different universities and institutions in Heidelberg, Berlin, Zurich, and Vienna. Since his board certification as specialist in neurobiology in 2006, he leads a specialised clinical laboratory focussing on the diagnosis of selected rare neurometabolic, neuroimmunological and neurodegenerative diseases. Besides his diagnostic responsibilities, he is actively involved in past and recent developments in the area of rare diseases on a national, as well as European level. In Austria, Dr. Voigtländer is country coordinator of Orphanet since 2004, was head of the National Coordination Centre for Rare Diseases at the Austrian Healthcare Institute (2011-2018) and is now the director of the national office for rare diseases (since 2019). He was one of the key participants in the elaboration of the national plan of action for rare diseases (2015) and is currently actively involved in its ongoing implementation. At the European level, Dr. Voigtländer was part of several former European expert groups and committees and has served three times as co-chair of the Board of Member States for European Reference Networks. Most recently, he was appointed by all Member States as future coordinator of the intended Joint Action JARDIN for the Integration of ERNs into national healthcare systems. In 2019, Dr. Voigtländer received the EURORDIS Black Pearl European Rare Disease Leadership Award.

Holm Graessner has graduated in Biomedical Engineering, Cybernetics, Electrical Engineering, German Language and Literature, Philosophy as well as Business Administration. He received his PhD “Summa cum laude” in 2004 and, then, he obtained his MBA degree in 2008.

He has been Managing Director of the Rare Disease Centre, since 2010, at the University and University Hospital Tübingen, Germany. He is Coordinator of the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (ERN-RND). Together with Olaf Riess, he coordinates the H2020 Solve-RD project on “Solving the unsolved rare diseases”.

Since 2020, as a fellow of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) he has been a member of the management teams of the Neurogenetics Panel and the Rare Neurological Disease Coordinating Panel of the EAN.

In 2023, he received the EURORDIS Black Pearl Award for Leadership and the first Martha and Wilfried Ensinger Award.

Cornelia Blaschke holds a PhD in biochemistry and has been active in health politics since leaving academic science in 2010. After several years in medical self-administration, followed by positions as project manager for clinical trials and as consultant in the field of clinical drug development, she joined the German Federal Ministry of Health in 2021 as policy officer.

Marcin Jędrychowski, MBA

University Hospital in Krakow, General Director

Graduate of Faculty of Management, Cracow University of Economics (1998-2002).

Graduate of MBA in Healthcare Studies, Cracow University of Economics (2021-2023).

In the years 2005 – 2008 specialist for EU projects and Head of EU Projects Department of Jagiellonian University Medical College. 

In the years 2008-2016 Deputy Bursar of Jagiellonian University Medical College.  

In the years 2016-2018 Rector's Proxy for New Headquarters of University Hospital in Cracow.  Main responsibilities of this position included coordination the construction and equipping of the facility together as well as preparation a relocation plan.

Since 2018, General Director of University Hospital in Krakow.

Inés Hernando joined EURORDIS as ERN and Healthcare Director in February 2018. In this role she is responsible for monitoring the European landscape on rare disease healthcare from a policy and advocacy perspective, managing all related activities. Inés supports the establishment of European Reference Networks (ERNs) leading the EURORDIS team that manages the 24 European Patient Advocacy Groups (ePAGs) that were set up by EURORDIS in 2016 to ensure a meaningful patient advocates’ engagement across all ERN activities.

Previously she worked for two years at COCIR as eHealth Senior Manager where she led the organisation’s work on all topics related to digital health, focusing specifically on issues such as data protection, interoperability and cross-border data flows. She also worked for eight years in the Spanish Electronic Health Record initiative as eHealth Coordinator where she provided overall programme management and help build the programme partners’ ecosystem that included all Regional Health Authorities and the Ministry of Health.

Inés holds a Master’s in Health Economics, Policy and Management from the London School of Economics.

Alain Coheur, infirmier de formation, diplômé par la suite en Sciences de la santé publique de l’Université de Liège (Faculté de médecine, école de santé publique) avec une spécialisation en gestion hospitalière et diplômé de la Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales. Il a commencé sa carrière au centre hospitalier universitaire de Liège. En 1991, il rejoint l'Union Nationale belge des Mutualités Socialistes (département de recherche) et prend part à la gestion du système belge de santé en étant membre du Comité de l’assurance de l'Institut national d'assurance maladie invalidité et du Conseil National des Etablissements Hospitaliers au Ministère de la santé publique. Depuis 1997, il coordonne différents projets transfrontaliers en soins de santé entre la Belgique, la France, les Pays-Bas, l'Allemagne et le Luxembourg financés par les fonds européens, Interreg.

Entre 1998 et 2002, directeur de projets à l'Association Internationale de la Mutualité (AIM), depuis membre du Conseil d'Administration et élu Trésorier depuis  juin 2017.

Depuis 2002, Directeur des affaires européennes et internationales chez Solidaris.

Depuis 2004, membre du bureau de l'Association Internationale de la Sécurité Sociale (AISS).

Entre 2007 et 2016, Président de l’ONG Solsoc. 

En 2008 et 2015 président de Social Economy Europe et depuis lors Vice-Président.

Entre 2009 et 2023, vice-président du Réseau Education et Solidarité, lié aux questions d’éducation, de santé et de solidarité

Depuis, 2013, membre du conseil d’administration de l’Agence belge de coopération au développement (ENABEL) et depuis 2021 Vice-président.

Depuis 2014, membre du Groupe d'experts de la Commission Européenne sur l'Entrepreneuriat Social (GECES) et depuis 2020 membre en tant que représentant du CESE.

Entre 2014 et 2019, membre du Conseil Wallonie Bruxelles de la Coopération internationale (CWBCI) qu’il a présidé en 2017.

Depuis 2015, membre du Comité Economique et Social Européen (CESE), Entre 2015 et 2020 porte-parole de la catégorie économie sociale et président du groupe permanent d’études sur les entreprises de l’économie sociale. Depuis, 2020 président de la Commission Marché Intérieur, Producteur et Consommateur.

Entre 2018 et 2023, vice-président de l’Institut Montparnasse, think tank mutualiste sur les transformations des entreprises de l’économie sociale.

Depuis 2018, membre du Conseil d’administration du CIRIEC (section belge et internationale)

Depuis 2019, co-président du Forum International de l’Economie Sociale et Solidaire (ESS FI)

Depuis la rentrée académique 2022, Maître de Conférence à l’Université de Liège, Faculté de médecine, Ecole de Santé Publique.

Assoc.prof. Birutė Tumienė is a clinical geneticist by background. She graduated Faculty of Medicine in Vilnius University, where she also obtained her residency training in clinical genetics and accomplished PhD studies in rare genetic epilepsies; currently, she gives lectures on genetics and rare diseases in her Alma Mater. Besides, she is the Head of Unit for Genetics and Genomics and the Head of the Coordination Center for Rare Diseases at Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos.

Her international rare diseases-related activities are as intensive, with a track record of more than 16 years. Currently, she is a co-chair of the European Reference Network Board of Member States (ERN BoMS), a member of the Diagnostic Scientific Committee in the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium IRDiRC, Pillar 3 (Trainings and capacity building) co-chair in the European Joint Program on Rare Diseases EJPRD, National Coordinator of Orphanet Lithuania, Advisory Committee member in the European Rare dIsease research Coordination and support Action ERICA, a Panel of Experts member of the WHO Collaborative Global Network for Rare Diseases, Global Nursing Network for Rare Diseases Implementation Group member. Her activities also extend to professional/scientific organizations: she is a Board member of European Society of Human Genetics, one of the founders of Baltic Society of Inherited Metabolic Diseases.

Through all these activities, assoc.prof. Tumienė fosters manifold interests in rare diseases, that combine the perspectives of a health professional, lecturer, policy-maker and an advocate of rare disease patients. She comes from a small newcomer EU13 country; hence, her particular concerns about equity, right to health and accessible, quality care across Europe and beyond, and beliefs in common European values and collaboration as a way to solve pan-European rare disease problems. In 2021, assoc.prof. Tumiene was awarded the Black Pearl European Leadership Award for her input into the development of European Reference Networks.

Anne-Sophie Lapointe has been directly affected by rare diseases, with two of her children suffering from a lysosomal disease. For 15 years, she sat on the boards of national and European rare disease associations. She was appointed member of the INSERM ethics committee for nearly 6 years.

Anne-Sophie Lapointe has a PhD and two Master's degrees in health ethics and economics. She worked as a project manager for the AnDDI-Rares rare diseases health network and was able to build with Orphanet axis 4 of the National Plan for Rare Diseases 3 (PNMR3) on information, training and e-health. Since October 2018, having put an end to her associative mandates, she has joined the Ministry of Health in the rare diseases mission. She has now been in charge of the project since January 2021, steering and coordinating the actions from the PNMR3 and the new action plan launched on 25^th of February 2025. In this capacity, she sits on the European Commission's board of Member States for the European reference networks (ERNs) for rare diseases and coordinates WP8 data management with the Netherlands for the joint action (JA JARDIN) funded by the EU4HEALTH programme. She is also engaged in the Governance for the MoH in the ERDERA project. 

Pavla Doležalová has been a physician fully engaged in the field of rare diseases for over 30 years. As  a paediatric rheumatologist and professor of paediatrics she leads a Paediatric Rheumatology and Autoinflammatory Diseases centre, member of ERN-RITA, in Prague. From 2017 she has also been acting as a chair of the IT/eHealth Working group of ERN-RITA. She has been involved in numerous international collaborative activities within her field of expertize including formulation of several European guidelines on paediatric rheumatic diseases.

Over the past 5 years she became actively involved at the national level as a rare disease expert for the Czech Ministry of Health and has been nominated a BoMS representative. She initiated and has been coordinating several ground-breaking projects in the field of rare diseases covering proposal of the complex  social and medical care system for rare disease patients and formation of rare disease dataset and its implementation in hospital electronic information systems, which is in a close relation to the planned establishment of the national rare disease registry.

Dr Enrique Terol, Health Counsellor - Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU. Ministry of External Affairs / Ministry of Health of Spain

Enrique Terol works as Health Counsellor in the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union and represents the interests of Spain in the area of health.

He is MD, specialized in Family and Community Medicine, MSc and PhD in Public Health and has followed specialisation courses on healthcare management and quality of healthcare.

His professional experience includes the clinical practice, managerial positions as Medical Director and CEO of Primary and Specialised Healthcare in private and public institutions and healthcare planning. He was Deputy General Director of Quality and Health Planning of the Ministry of Health of Spain between 2004 and 2008 in charge of the development inter alia of the Spanish Strategy of ischemic heart disease, Diabetes, Mental health, rare diseases and Patient safety.

He worked as Health Attaché in the Spanish Permanent Representation to the EU and coordinator of the area of Health in the Spanish Presidency of the EU between 2008 and 2011. From 2011 to 2020, he worked as Seconded National Expert and as Policy officer in DG SANTE developing the legal and organisational bases for and the set-up and implementation of the European Reference Networks (ERN) under the framework of the Directive of Cross-border Health. Between 2021 and 2022 worked as team leader in the Medical Service of the European Commission.

Since 2022 he works as Health counsellor at Spanish Permanent Representation and coordinates the Health are during the Spanish Presidency of the EU

Carla Pereira biography:

• PhD in Public Health, in the scientific area of Policy, Management, and Health Administration
• Researcher at the New University of Lisbon "Comprehensive Health Research Centre" National School of Health.
• Head of the Division of Planning and Quality Improvement, from the Department of Health Quality at the Directorate-General for Health
• Coordinator of the Orphanet Portugal Team
• Technical and scientific coordinator of various projects, notably in the area of Care Adequacy, Implementation, and monitoring of tools that facilitate the delivery of person-centred health care
• Member of the national commission for national reference centers
• Member of the national clinical terminology center
• Since 2016, technical and scientific coordinator of various processes in the Department of Health Quality at the Directorate-General for Health, highlighting:
  • Coordination of the Interministerial Commission of the National Strategy for Rare Disease (EDIR) 2015-2020,
  • Management of the Rare Disease Person's Card (CPDR),
  • Coordinator of the National Orphanet Team,
  • Representation of the Ministry of Health and DGS in international working groups, notably European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases – EJP RD, Policy Board, Mirror group of the EJP, Board of Member States in the European Reference Network, European Joint action for Integration Rare Diseases.
• In addition to the aforementioned areas, she also assumes the design, implementation, and monitoring of tools that facilitate the provision of person-centred health care services (e.g., National Patient Safety Plan 2021-2026; Clinical and Organisational Standards, National Functionality Table)

András EDELÉNYI, born in 1949, in Budapest.

 Graduated as a chemical engineer from the legal predecessor of the Pannon University, in Veszprém. Technical doctor thesis defended in 1974. Executive management postgraduate studies in the Dartmouth College and the Duke University, USA.

21 years in the Taurus Hungarian Rubber Works, starting in managerial jobs of the research and development area. For 9 years acting as executive vice president of the Taurus Group. At the French Group Schneider Electric, 7 years as country director Hungary, after regional director of M&A in Central and Eastern Europe. Since 2006, consultant in top management.

Past secretary general of the Federation of European Chemical Societies, board member of the Chemical Engineering Federation. Member of the Hungarian, the French-Hungarian and the German-Hungarian chambers of commerce and industry, invited lecturer

 Since 2015, member of the Employers’ Group in the European Economic and Social Committee.

Alberto M. Pereira (Uruguay, 23 nov 1966) is professor of medicine and head of the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. He was president of the European Neuroendocrine Association (2016-2018), and since 2017 he is the coordinator of the European Reference Network on Rare Endocrine Conditions (Endo-ERN). He is also PI of the Horizon2020 ERICA project, that aims to strengthen the ERN’s research and innovation capacity. His clinical and translational research focusses on the long-term effects of hypothalamic and pituitary diseases, and in specific on the effects of stress hormones on the brain. He is the recipient of the prestigious 2022 ESE Clinical Endocrinology Trust Award.

Since September 2019, Martin Dorazil is the Deputy Head of the Unit “Digital Health and European Reference Networks” in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety. He is a lawyer by background. He joined the European Commission in 2004 and since then he has worked on issues related to patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare (DG SANCO), antitrust issues in the pharmaceutical sector (DG COMP) and legal, regulatory and policy issues related to medicinal products (DG SANTE). 

Izabela Taborska is Legal and Policy Officer in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), Unit D1 - Medicines: policy, authorisation and monitoring. She works on the revision of the EU pharmaceutical legislation in the part concerning medicinal products for rare diseases.

Izabela has over 12 years of experience in the European Commission. Before joining DG SANTE (in 2022), she worked for six years as Legal Officer in the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). Before joining the European Commission, Izabela worked for the Council of Europe on human rights protection. She is a qualified lawyer at the Bar of Wroclaw, Poland.

Maurizio Scarpa, MD PhD, paediatrician, is the Director of the Regional Coordinating Centre for Rare Diseases at the University Hospital of Udine, Italy. He is Professor of Paediatrics at the Dept. for the Woman and Child Health, University of Padova, Italy, and the Co-Founder of the Brains For Brain Foundation, together with Prof. David Begley, Kings College of London, London, UK. Prof. Scarpa has extensive expertise as a basic scientist in genetics and biotechnology, as well as a clinician in the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric rare disorders; neurometabolic diseases in particular. Together with dr. Christina Lampe he founded the Center for Rare Diseases at the Helios Dr. Horst Schmidt Kliniken in Wiesbaden, Germany. He is especially interested in developing innovative health approaches for the diagnosis and the treatment of metabolic inherited diseases; to this aim he is also collaborating with major biotech companies as an external independent expert. Prof. Scarpa is the Coordinator of the European Reference Network for Hereditary Metabolic Diseases (MetabERN), formed by 101 healthcare providers in 27 EU countries.

Dr. Angelo Marino is the Head of Department of Health and Food at Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) of European Commission in Brussels.

He is responsible for the implementation of the EU4Health and Horizon Europe (Health) programmes, as well as the Single Market Programme – Food safety. Angelo Marino has more than 25 years of professional management experience in both private and public sector. He gained a large experience in the field of information and telecommunication technologies through work in a variety of areas, domains and organisations, including Cybersecurity industry, logistics, United Nations and European Commission. He has a degree in computer science and software engineering from Pisa University in Italy and has an MBA in global information and communication technology management.

Csaba Kontor has worked since 2015 as health attaché at the Hungarian Permanent Representation. During this period he has been involved in a number of health related dossiers, among other the creation and early implementation of European Reference Networks where he is also designated as deputy member of the Board of Member States. Before his position as health attaché, he worked from 2004 at the EU affairs, later on the pharmaceutical departments of the Hungarian health ministry.

Cinzia Del Rio

Present position: Coordinator European Policies – UIL International Dept.

from April 2023 President  of SOC Section – Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship - at the EESC – European Economic and Social Committee

Positions in European and international organisations

• Head UIL International Dept. from 2015 to February 2023
• Since 2015 member of the EESC –
• Since June ’07 titular member of ETUC Executive Committee
• Since 2000 regular member of TUAC – Trade Union Advisory Committee at the OECD - working Group on Economic Policies and Plenary sessions
• From  June 2008 to June 2014 elected member of the ILO Governing Body  – International Labour Organisation and member of the GB of ITCILO of Turin
• From October 2007 to June 2011 titular member of the Governing Board  of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and from 2014 to 2018 substitute GB member