Jess Anders is a former Senior Development Manager, Corporate Engagement at GMF.
Session: Perspectives on a New Atlanticism
Margaritis Schinas took office as Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life in the Von der Leyen Commission in December 2019. In this capacity, he oversees the EU’s policies for Security Union, migration, skills, education and integration. As Vice-President in charge of the Security Union, he oversees and coordinates all strands of the European Commission’s work under the Security Union, including tackling terrorism and radicalisation, disrupting organised crime, fighting cybercrime, stepping up cybersecurity, protecting critical infrastructures or addressing hybrid threats. Mr Schinas has also served as a Member of the European Parliament, from 2007 until 2009. Upon the completion of his parliamentary term of office, he returned to the European Commission and held various senior positions. In 2010, President Barroso appointed Mr Schinas as Deputy Head of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers. Later he served as Resident Director and Head of the Athens Office of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). In 2014, President Juncker appointed Mr. Schinas as the European Commission’s Chief Spokesperson.
Joanna Kopacka is a former Senior Program Coordinator, Engaging Central Europe at GMF.
Brussels Forum Session: Turkey: What Now? What Next?
Selin Nasi is the London representative of the Ankara Policy Center and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics' European Institute. She writes a foreign affairs column for Politikyol, an independent Turkish media outlet. She previously worked as a newspaper columnist for Hürriyet Daily News and Şalom. Nasi holds a PhD in political science and international relations from Boğaziçi University. Her dissertation addressed Turkey’s post-Cold War Israel policy.
Brando Benifei is the youngest Italian MEP, a member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). He was elected to the European Parliament in 2014 and is a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and vice-chair of the Youth Intergroup and of the Disability Intergroup. Benifei has been chair of European affairs for the Young Democrats and Vice-President of ECOSY (youth organization of PES) for four years. He joined the PES working group which originally drafted the European Youth Guarantee. Benifei studied at the University of Bologna, the London School of Economics and the Ispi Milano