Inspire, Debate, Engage and Accelerate Action (I.D.E.A), formerly known as European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), is a

executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...

of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

reporting directly to the

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

and under her authority. IDEA is composed of a professional staff of advisers, policy analysts and support staff in order to provide ideas and inspiration for the core priorities of the President; debate and engage around new evidence-based policy alternatives in the community of think tanks, research, and other institutions through active outreach; and accelerate the conversion of these ideas and engagements into concrete and bold action to help the EU Commission deliver to its citizens in a fast-changing context. The Centre has a head ranked as a Director General designated by the President.

History

Forward Studies Unit of the European Commission

The origins of what is today known as IDEA go back to 1989, when the Forward Studies Unit was established by the

as a small 'think tank' staffed with EU officials reporting directly to President

Jacques Delors Jacques Lucien Jean Delors (born 20 July 1925) is a French politician who served as the 8th President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. He served as Minister of Finance of France from 1981 to 1984. He was a Member of the European Par ...

. The Unit's primary task was to monitor and evaluate European integration by studying long-term prospects and structural tendencies, basing itself particularly on a network of external contacts with research institutes specialised in long-term forecasting and planning.

Members of the Forward Studies Unit of the European Commission

Marc Luyckx Ghisi Marc Luyckx Ghisi was born 20 April 1942 in Louvain, Belgium. He lives with his wife Isabelle near Brussels. Initially, he studied mathematics, philosophy and theology (Ph.D.) and became a Catholic priest. He presented a doctorate in Rome (Pontif ...

Guy Spier Guy Spier (born February 4, 1966) is a Zurich-based investor. He is the author of ''The Education of a Value Investor''. Spier is the manager of the Aquamarine Fund with $350 million in assets. He is well known for bidding US$650,100 with Mohni ...

Maria João Rodrigues Maria João Rodrigues GOIH is a Portuguese academic and politician who served as Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Group of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) from 2014 until 2019. Since 2017 she is also President of th ...

Group of Policy Advisers (GOPA)

In May 2000,

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...

changed the Forward Studies Unit into the Group of Policy Advisers (GOPA) and entrusted it with four specific domains: economics, social affairs, foreign affairs, and dialogue with religions.

Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA)

With the arrival of

José Manuel Barroso José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and university teacher, currently serving as non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International. He previously served as the 11th president of the European Commi ...

as President of the European Commission in 2004, GOPA was restructured and rebranded as the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA).

European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC)

With the arrival of

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also served as Finance Minister ...

as President of the European Commission in 2014, BEPA was restructured and rebranded as European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC).

References

External links

I.D.E.A. Inspire, Debate, Engage and Accelerate Action
European Commission {{EU-stub