A stronger Europe in a fractured world

A Latvian politician, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica is a Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, the Latvian parliament, where she sits on the Committee of Foreign Affairs and Committee of European Affairs. She serves as a Head of the Latvian Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Previously, Kalniņa-Lukaševica held numerous posts at the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as the parliamentary secretary, in which role she was responsible for ensuring cooperation between the ministry, the Latvian parliament and the European Parliament. She has also represented the Latvian government at the EU Foreign Affairs Council meetings of development and trade ministers. Kalniņa-Lukaševica started her professional career at Jurmala’s city council and then went on to work at the Strategic Analysis Commission of the President of Latvia, where she served as an advisor to the president.

Meghan Milloy is the Co-Founder of Republican Women for Progress (RWFP) and the Director of Strategic Communications at the Institute for International Bankers. Prior to this, she was a fellow at the Robert Bosch Foundation, where her work focused on trade issues in the German public and private sectors. Meghan previously served as the chair of Republican Women for Hillary (RWFH) and director of financial services policy at the American Action Forum (AAF). During the Obama administration, Meghan worked as a presidential management fellow at the Small Business Administration on matters of financial inclusion and as a counsel with the House Financial Services Committee. She was an intern at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the George W. Bush White House. Meghan has also worked in the office of former Senate majority leader Trent Lott and has volunteered for the campaigns of Haley Barbour, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton.

Mary Fitzgerald is a researcher and analyst specialising in the Mediterranean region with a particular focus on Libya. She has consulted for a number of international organisations including in the areas of peacebuilding and civil society. She has worked with the International Crisis Group (ICG), the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) among others. She is a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, King’s College London and an Associate Fellow at ISPI in Milan. Mary has also worked on wider initiatives with UNESCO, the Anna Lindh Foundation, the British Council and other cultural organisations. Her writing has appeared in publications including Foreign Policy, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Financial Times and The Guardian.

Currently serving as Ireland’s Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Jack Chambers is also Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil and played a leading role in the party’s success in legislative elections held in November 2024. Previously, he was notably appointed as Ireland’s youngest Minister for Finance in over a century. A medical doctor, Chambers was first elected to Parliament in 2016 at 25, its youngest member. He has held ministerial positions in the departments of transport, defence, and environment, climate and communications, as well as serving in Government.

Othman El Ferdaous is a politician and diplomat with a track record in public policy, investment and cultural development, currently serving as Morocco’s ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire. Prior to his current role, he was vice president for growth at ABA Technology and served as Morocco’s minister of culture, youth and sports, where he led initiatives to modernise the cultural sector, expand youth engagement and support creative industries. Previously, El Ferdaous also held the role of secretary of state for investment, working to enhance Morocco’s business climate and digital economy. A strong advocate for EU-Maghreb integration, El Ferdaous founded clubgibraltar.org, a non-profit providing a ‘South-North’ perspective on European affairs.

Natalija Stojmenović is a member of the Serbian Parliament representing the opposition Green-Left Front. She was previously a Belgrade city councillor and coordinator with the Don’t Let Belgrade Drown (Ne Davimo Beograd) movement, which was founded in 2014 to promote citizens’ engagement to promote reform, transparency and environment protection. Stojmenović’s election in 2023 came amid a surge of support for a proEuropean, anti-corruption coalition standing in opposition to the populist government which has ruled Serbia for over a decade. She supports grassroots politics to counter the power of vested interests and has worked in Parliament to promote women’s rights, affordable housing and improved public services.

A Slovak parliamentarian, Vladimíra Marcinková, member of the Freedom and Solidarity parliamentarian club, is the vice-chair of the Committee for European Affairs. Under her leadership, the Committee for European Affairs was the first in EU member states to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and call for a unified EU response to support the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. A staunch supporter of human rights and the rights of the rights of minorities and other vulnerable groups, she has sponsored legislative initiatives to expand children’s rights and social assistance to mothers and families, as well as defended the expansion of the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. Marcinková is also actively dedicated to improving the position of women and mothers in the labour market.

German politician Wiebke Winter is a member of the Bremen State Parliament representing the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She is the youngest female member of the CDU’s Federal Executive Board. Winter’s political priorities include climate protection, security and digitalisation. In 2021, she co-founded KlimaUnion to push for more ambitious climate policies, particularly through climate-focused foreign policy. Winter chairs the Home Affairs Committee in the State Parliament. She co-led the CDU list in in Bremen’s 2023 state election and is the party’s deputy parliamentary group leader and spokeswoman on Justice. Winter campaigns to get more young women in politics.