Voices, choices and leadership: a tipping point for Europe?

Brando Benifei is a Member of the European Parliament and Head of the Italian S&D MEP Delegation. Benifei is also the Co-Chair of the MEP Heart Group, where he works to raise cardiovascular diseases as a priority on the EU political agenda. A member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), he is the rapporteur for the Single Market Programme and shadow rapporteur for the European Social Fund Plus. Benifei received the MEP Award for his work on employment, social affairs and youth unemployment.

In November 2020 Borg was elected to the youth wing of the Maltese Nationalist Party’s (MZPN) Executive Committee, to serve as Gozo Coordinator. In July 2021, Borg was elected as a member of the Nationalist Party’s Executive Committee. Borg ran on the 13th District during the 2022 Maltese General Election and was elected to the House of Representatives in March 2022. He obtained 6,108 first preference votes, getting the highest number of first preference votes across all the districts after Party Leader Bernard Grech.

Nicolas Brien is an entrepreneur, investor and board member. He is a vibrant advocate of EU tech sovereignty and has chaired the European Startup Network, the most influential industry group representing start-ups in Brussels. Brien sits on the boards of companies and foundations in Europe and Asia, including Heritage, Vidacity, Tilder and France Alzheimer. After successfully restructuring EuraTechnologies, Europe’s largest startup incubator, he entered into stealth mode and has been working on a green tech start-up project. He previously led France Digitale, Europe’s largest start-up organisation with over 2,000 start-up members and more than 100 venture capitalists. Prior to joining the digital ecosystem, Brien ran the Direction of Studies at Kantar and was a senior advisor to Najat Vallaud-Belkacem in her role as the spokeswoman of the French government.

Hélène Conway-Mouret is a French academic and politician with in-depth knowledge of security and defence issues. She has been a central figure in France’s relations abroad, serving as the Vice-President of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Committee in the Senate, rapporteur for the budget of the equipment of the Armed Forces, and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs in charge of French citizens living abroad. She also founded the Delegation for Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities in the Senate.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is a Dutch politician who notably served as the 11th Secretary-General of NATO. He also previously worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch delegation of the NATO headquarters in Brussels. He now works as President of the Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV) of the Netherlands, an independent body which advises government and parliament on foreign policy. Furthermore, he was appointed to the Pieter Kooijmans Chair for Peace, Law and Security at Leiden University.

Currently serving as the Minister for Family, Labour and Social Policy, Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk is among Poland’s most recognised social activists and a strong advocate of women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights. She previously served as a member of the Polish Parliament Social Policy Committee and the Education, Science and Youth Committee. Dziemianowicz-Bąk was instrumental in leading the demonstrations against anti-abortion laws in Poland that became known as ‘Black Monday’. She is a former board member of the left-wing Razem party. Dziemianowicz-Bąk was listed among the top 100 most influential Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Journal and also received the Campaign Against Homophobia’s Equality Crowns award.

Valeriya Ionan is the Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, where she oversees European integration and international relations, the national digital literacy programme, regional digital transformation, as well as the development and growth of SMEs. Her top projects at the ministry include Diia.Education, a national edutainment platform for reskilling and digital literacy; award-winning Diia.Business, a national project on the development of SMEs; WinWin platform for growing global Ukrainian innovation vision; Future Perfect, a national language programme; CDTO Campus, an education project for digital leaders, and many others. Her efforts focus on launching Ukrainian digital products to speed the process of national digitalisation and to help solve complex challenges.

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.

Prior to joining Friends of Europe, Dharmendra Kanani was director of policy at the European Foundation Centre (EFC). He was the England director at the Big Lottery Fund, the largest independent funder in the UK and fourth largest in the world. Dharmendra has held senior positions in the public and voluntary sectors and advisor to numerous ministerial policy initiatives across the UK.

Jesse Klaver currently serves as the green-left party leader in the Dutch parliament, with a mandate focused on environmental and educational issues. In his time as party leader, Klaver was instrumental in capturing 10 additional parliamentary seats, rising to an all-time high of 14, and making GroenLinks the fifth most important group in the House. Previously, Klaver was the spokesperson for finance, environment and education, and sat on a wide range of parliamentary committees. He has publically opposed tax evasion and has co-authored a memo on protecting the Dutch flora and fauna.

As the Czech Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Zuzana Freitas Lopesová is responsible for the country’s labour agenda, social affairs, housing and housing construction, family policy and integration and refugee assistance. She also served as the Representative of the City of Prague and the Head of Pirates political party’s expert team for labour and social affairs. Lopesová is the former advisor to Olga Richterová, Member of the Czech Chamber of Deputies, prior to which she worked at the Charles University Faculty of Arts as the assistant to the vice dean on project management and grants development.

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.

Péter Pető is a Hungarian political journalist, who currently works as the Editor-in-Chief of 24.hu. Previously, he was the deputy editor of the left-wing political daily Népszabadság until it was shut down following the publication of articles revealing scandals that implicated politicians close to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Soon after its dissolution, he was shortlisted for the Reporters Without Borders’ Prize of Independence. Having started his career in sports journalism, Pető became increasingly politically engaged as the country’s media landscape became growingly turbulent. He aims to uphold independent journalism through the preservation of traditional and the adoption of new approaches to journalism to reach diverse audiences. He has also authored eight books, including novels and political essays.

Andris Piebalgs is an experienced Latvian politician who has held key positions at both the national and European levels. He is currently a member of the Latvian political party UNITY. Previously, he worked in the Latvian diplomatic service, first serving as the Latvian ambassador to Estonia, where he helped resolve a sea border issue between the two states. He went on to become the Latvian ambassador to the EU, in which role he helped establish Latvia as the EU candidate country. Afterwards, Piebalgs served as the European commissioner for energy and then as the European commissioner for development.

Dragoș Pîslaru is a Romanian economist and politician. He serves as a member of the European Parliament on behalf of USR PLUS, affiliated with the European political group, Renew Europe. He sits on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and Subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC). Pîslaru is also the co-rapporteur on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the largest financial instrument created by the European Union for the economic recovery of the bloc after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Giedrius Surplys is a Member of Parliament of Lithuania, acting as Deputy-chair of Foreign Affairs Committee. He is a vice-chair of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (ECR political group). Previously, he worked as adviser to Prime Minister of Lithuania and as the Head of Governmental COVID-19 Communication Group. He has also served as Minister of Agriculture and the Deputy-minister of the Interior of Lithuania. Giedrius holds a Master of Arts diploma in Diplomacy from the University of Birmingham and a Master in European Studies diploma from the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University. Giedrius is also a publicist and lecturer, author of the book on Christian leadership “Win is no Sin”.

In his former position at the European Parliament, Dragos Tudorache analysed the challenges of deploying artificial intelligence and its future impact on the EU economy. Tudorache has a long history of public service in Romania, previously serving as Head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, Minister of Communications and for the Digital Society and Minister of Interior. Before his election to the European Parliament, he held a number of positions at the European Comission, including managing strategic projects such as the Schengen Information System, Visa Information System and the establishment of the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems (eu-LISA).

Diana Ürge-Vorsatz currently serves as Vice Chair of the IPCC and is a Professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy at the CEU. Ürge-Vorsatz served as Vice-Chair of IPCC’s Working Group III (Mitigation) in the Sixth Assessment cycle. She was also a Coordinating Lead Author in both the Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports of the IPCC. In addition, Ürge-Vorsatz is Vice President of the Hungarian Scientific Panel on Climate Change.

Karien van Gennip’s term as the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Netherlands ended on 2 July 2024. She is also a former Dutch state secretary for the economy and has previously served as a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party. Van Gennip has held various executive roles at ING Group, including as the CEO of ING Bank France. She currently sits on the Board of the CDA in Amsterdam, having previously chaired the Coöperatie VGZ Board of Director and having held various board-level positions at TomTom N.V., the Organe Fund and Zorgverzekeraars Nederland, among others.

Shahin is Senior Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. He is also affiliated with the European Institute of the London School of Economics and is a member of the euro50 group, a group of senior current and former European policymakers in Europe. Prior to this Shahin was a Senior Economist at Soros Fund Management and he was also the Economic Advisor to the French Economy Minister until April 2015. Shahin has also been the Economic Advisor to the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. In this capacity, he worked in particular on issues pertaining to European economic policy, the architecture of the euro area and the consequences of the economic and financial crisis.

Vlad Voiculescu is a member of the European Parliament, health policy expert and patient advocate, who until recently has served as the Romanian minister of health. After pursuing a career in finance, Voiculescu became active in public service, serving as the Romanian Finance Minister’s chief of staff before becoming the minister of health in the Dacian Cioloș government.  He has been involved in patient advocacy, both at the national and European levels for over a decade. Voiculescu is the founder of an international network of volunteers that helped over 2,500 cancer patients receive essential medicines that were missing in Romania, a story that featured in the HBO documentary The Network’. He is also the Co-Founder of MagiCAMP, which seeks to provide support to children diagnosed with cancer and other serious illnesses. For this work, the European Parliament awarded Voiculescu its ‘European Citizen’s Prize.’

Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti is an environmental feminist and activist who currently serves as Co-President of the Association of Senior Women for Climate Protection (KlimaSeniorinnen) in Switzerland, a group of more than 2,000 older women that has taken the Swiss government to the European Court of Human Rights over its climate-change policy. Following this lawsuit, the Grand Chamber of the Court ruled their case that Switzerland is violating the human rights of older women because the state is not taking the necessary steps to combat global warming. The Court also found that the association, which currently represents over 3000 women aged 64 and over, has victim status. Previously, Wydler-Wälti was an adult educator, parenting and couples counsellor.

Charles Wyplosz is Emeritus Professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva where he was previously Director of the International Centre for Money and Banking Studies. Prior to this, he served as Associate Dean for Research and Development at INSEAD, as Director of the PhD program in Economics at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales in Paris and as Policy Director of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). He served as Editor of Covid Economics from its launch in March 2020 to its closing in June 2021.

His main research areas include financial crises, European monetary integration and fiscal policy. He is the co-author of two leading textbooks and has published several books and many professional articles. He has served as consultant to many international organizations and governments and is a frequent contributor to public media.

A French national, Charles Wyplosz holds a degree in Engineering from Ecole Centrale, Paris and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. He has been awarded the title of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.