European Policy Centre Auditorium Brussels July 2017

European Policy Centre building on Rue du Trône 14-16

The European Policy Centre (EPC) is a

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

-based

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

European Union affairs The political structure of the European Union (EU) is similar to a confederation, where many policy areas are federalised into common institutions capable of making law; the competences to control foreign policy, defence policy or the majori ...

, founded in 1997.

Activities

Under the guidance of Herman Van Rompuy, the EPC's Chief Executive is Fabian Zuleeg, a German economist. Its Director of Studies is Janis A. Emmanouilidis, a German-Greek political scientist and economist. The EPC's 33 analysts come from a range of backgrounds. They carry out research and analysis, organise expert meetings and events with the main stakeholders concerned with EU and global affairs and produce policy analysis online and in print. The EPC also works with 28 senior advisers and 14 academic fellows. The EPC's policy work is organised under six main programmes: *Europe's Political Economy (led by Georg Riekeles, Associate Director) *Europe in the World (led by Ricardo Borges de Castro, Associate Director) *Social Europe and Well-Being (led by Elizabeth Kuiper, Associate Director) *European Politics and Institutions (led by Corina Stratulat, Senior Policy Analyst) *European Migration and Diversity (led by Marie de Somer, Senior Policy Analyst) *Sustainable Prosperity for Europe (led by Annika Hedberg, Senior Policy Analyst) In addition, the EPC runs the Connecting Europe project (supported by the Mercator Foundation), which promotes sustainable exchanges between civil society initiatives throughout Europe and the policy community in Brussels. Past speakers include Margaret Chan, former Director-General of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

;

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 P ...

, former President of the European Commission;

Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian economist, academic, banker and civil servant who served as prime minister of Italy from February 2021 to October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime minister, he served as President of ...

, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...

;

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 ...

, former President 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 ...

;

Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; née Lallouette, ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been serving as President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th managing director of the ...

, President of the

and former Director of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

; Martin Schulz, former President of the European Parliament; Salil Shetty, former Secretary General of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

;

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic ...

, President of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily ...

Group and former

President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as ...

; as well as numerous high-ranking ministers and officials from a wide range of EU and non-EU countries.

Funding

The EPC's funding comes from a number of sources, including its strategic partners: the King Baudouin Foundation, based in Belgium and Stiftung Mercator, based in Germany, and

Adessium Foundation The Adessium Foundation is a charitable foundation based in the Netherlands. Adessium Foundation aspires to help build a society in which people live in harmony with each other and their environment. A society where actions are taken with the publ ...

, based in the Netherlands. It also comes from membership fees, and grants from the EU and other organisations. Details of these are published on its website.

Governance

Herman Van Rompuy is President of the European Policy Centre and chairs its Strategic Council, which includes many prominent EU figures:

, Frederica Mogherini, Joaquin Almunia, Maria Joào Rodrigues,

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard John Olav Kerr, Baron Kerr of Kinlochard (born 22 February 1942), is a British former diplomat and civil servant, and is a crossbench member of the House of Lords. He was a member of the European Convention that first drafted what became Artic ...

Janez Potočnik Janez Potočnik (pronounced ; born 22 March 1958) is a Slovenian politician who served as European Commissioner for Environment from 2009 until 2014. He was formerly Slovenia's Minister for European Affairs. In November 2014, he became co-chair ...

André Sapir André Sapir is a Belgian economist and professor at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management ( Université Libre de Bruxelles). He is also a senior fellow at Bruegel, the Brussels-based think tank. Professional career Sapir holds ...

Wolfgang Schüssel Wolfgang Schüssel (; born 7 June 1945) is an Austrian People's Party politician. He was Chancellor of Austria for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007. While being recognised as a rare example of an active reformer in conte ...

, Rita Süssmuth, Marta Dassù, Catherine Day,

Monica Frassoni Monica Frassoni (born 10 September 1963) is an Italian politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2009 and as co-chair of the European Green Party from 2009 to 2019. In 2018, she was elected at the local Council o ...

, and

Nathalie Tocci Nathalie Tocci is an Italian political scientist and international relations expert. She specializes in the role of the European Union in international affairs and peacekeeping, and the relationship between European states. She has served as the D ...

among many others. The EPC's General Assembly and Governing Board are chaired by David O’Sullivan, Former EU Ambassador to the United States. Former Presidents of the European Policy Centre include

Peter Sutherland Peter Denis Sutherland (25 April 1946 – 7 January 2018) was an Irish businessman, barrister and Fine Gael politician who served as UN Special Representative for International Migration from 2006 to 2017. He was known for serving in a variety ...

(1998-2011) and

Philippe Maystadt Philippe M.P.J. Maystadt (14 March 1948 – 7 December 2017) was a Belgian politician who served as Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister. He was President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2000 t ...

(2011-2014). Former Chairs of the Governing Board include Hywel Ceri Jones, founder of the Erasmus Programme; António Vitorino, former European Commissioner; and

Meglena Kuneva Meglena Shtilianova Kuneva ( bg, Меглена Щилиянова Кунева; born 22 June 1957) is a Bulgarian and EU politician. Biography Born in Sofia, Kuneva is descended from a Catholic family from the town of Rakovski. She graduat ...

, former European Commissioner.

Membership

The EPC has a membership of around 350 organisations, which spans the spectrum of stakeholders, from diplomatic embassies to companies, non-governmental organisations, and regional and local authorities. Members actively contribute to events, workshops, task forces and roundtables.

Tobacco companies

In January 2010, research was published alleging that in the 1990s EPC helped

tobacco companies The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any ...

, as well as other industry groups,

lobby Lobby may refer to: * Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building * Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians :* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States * Lobby (food), a thick st ...

"to ensure that the EU framework for evaluating policy options emphasised business interests at the expense of public health".

References

External links

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EU Brexit chiefs cast doubt on May’s citizen offer
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It's cool to be pro-EU with popular French President Emmanuel Macron
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Cyprus rivals restart talks over reuniting island
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WHAT DOES THE EU WANT FROM BREXIT?
{{European Union think tanks European integration think tanks Political and economic research foundations Political and economic think tanks based in the European Union Non-profit organisations based in Belgium Cross-European advocacy groups Think tanks based in Belgium