Future of the EU Mini-Conference

Stavros Lambrinidis is the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States, as of March 1, 2019. From 2012 to February 2019, he served as the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights. In 2011, he was Foreign Affairs Minister of Greece. Between 2004 and 2011, he was twice elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the Greek Social Democratic Party (PASOK). He served as Vice-President of the European Parliament (2009-11), Vice-President of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (2004-09), and Head of the PASOK Delegation (2005-11). Between 2000 and 2004, he was Director-General of the International Olympic Truce Centre, an International Olympic Committee organization. He served as Ambassador ad personam of the Hellenic Republic (1999-2004); Secretary-General of the Greek Foreign Ministry, responsible for Expatriate Greeks (1996-99); and Chief of Staff to the Greek Foreign Minister (1996). Between 1988 and 1993 he worked as an Attorney at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C., specializing in international trade, transactions, and arbitration. Mr. Lambrinidis was born in Athens, Greece in 1962. He studied Economics and Political Science at Amherst College (Bachelor of Arts degree, 1984) and Law at Yale Law School (Juris Doctor degree, 1988), where he was also Managing Editor of The Yale Journal of International Law.

Elected to the United States Senate by the people of Maryland in November 2016, Chris Van Hollen is committed to fighting every day to ensure that our state and our country live up to their full promise of equal rights, equal justice, and equal opportunity. Senator Van Hollen believes that every child deserves the opportunity to pursue their dreams and benefit from a quality education, and that anyone willing to work hard should be able to find a good job. That's why his top priorities include creating more and better jobs, strengthening small businesses, and increasing educational and job training opportunities for individuals of all ages and in every community. Senator Van Hollen started his time in public service as a member of the Maryland State Legislature, where he became known as a tenacious advocate for everydayMarylanders and someone who was unafraid to take on powerful special interests on behalf of working people. In 2002, he was elected to represent Maryland's 8th Congressional District. In the House of Representatives, he served as a member of the Democratic leadership and was elected by his colleagues to be the Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee and protect vital interests like Social Security and Medicare. A tireless fighter for the people of Maryland, Senator Van Hollen has also become known for working hard to find common sense solutions to difficult national issues. In January 2015, he released a comprehensive plan to address the problem of growing inequality in America and provide a blueprint for building an economy that works for everyone, a goal that he will continue to fight for in the U.S. Senate. Senator Van Hollen is proud to have worked successfully with members of both parties to pass bipartisan legislation whenever possible on issues of common concern, including expanding medical research, protecting the Chesapeake Bay, fighting childhood cancer, and passing the ABLE Act to assist families with children with disabilities. Chris Van Hollen is a graduate of Swarthmore College, the John F. Kennedy School of Public Policy at Harvard University, and Georgetown University Law Center where he attended night school.

Meglena Kuneva graduated from Sofia University with a degree in Law in 1981 and earned a Doctorate of Law in 1984. She worked as a journalist for the Law Programme of the Bulgarian National Radio and was an Assistant Professor at Sofia University, then in 1990 she was hired as a Senior Legal Advisor at the Council of Ministers until 2001. She continued her studies at Georgetown University and Oxford in foreign affairs and environmental law. A founding member of the Simeon II National Movement (NDSV), Kuneva was elected to the Bulgarian Parliament in June2001, and in August of that year she became the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief Negotiator of the Republic of Bulgaria with the European Union, as well as representative of Bulgaria in the European Convention. In 2002 Kuneva was appointed as Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the country’s first, and remained in that post, the only minister of the previous cabinet to do so, after the NDSV lost its majority in government. In 2007 she became the first Bulgarian member of the European Commission, where she still serves as the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection. Kuneva is also a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and was a member of the Vick Foundation, where she served as part of the jury for the 2008 Bulgarian Novel of the Year. Kuneva is also in the international advisory council at DIKTIO.

George Papaconstantinou was educated at the London School of Economics, with a Master of Arts in Economics from New York University and a PhD in Economics from the LSE. From 1988 to 1998 he was a senior economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In 1998 he was appointed as advisor to then-Prime Minister Costas Simitis on issues of information society. From 2000 until 2002 he served as Special Secretary on information society issues for the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as well as a member of that ministry’s Council of Academic Advisors, a member of the OTE (Hellenic Telecommunication Organization), and the Greek representative to the EU’s Economic Policy Committee. In 2003 he coordinated the Lisbon Strategy for economic and social reforms. He was elected to the Hellenic Parliament for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in 2007, representing the district of Kozani, and was in office until 2012. Papaconstantinou was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in June 2009. In October 2009 he was appointed as Minister of Finance by Prime Minister George Papandreu, a position he held until 2012, when Papandreu appointed him as the Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change. He also taught at the Athens University of Economics and Business from 2003 until 2007 and served as an advisor to the European Commission on issues of informational society.

Dimitris Kourkoulas was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, responsible for European Affairs and Economic Diplomacy, from June 2012 till January 2015. During his mandate he was also responsible for the Greek Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU in the first semester of 2014. He has served as EU Ambassador in Lebanon (1997-2001), the first ambassador of the EU after the end of the war, Bulgaria (2001-2006), during the period of the negotiations for the accession of Bulgaria into the EU and Bosnia & Herzegovina (2006-2010), the third largest EU Delegation in the world. From 2010-2012 he was Director in DG Enlargement of the European Commission, responsible for the EU strategy and policy of Enlargement in the Western Balkans, Turkey, and Iceland. From 1992 to 1997 he was Head of the European Commission’s Political Relations Department for Central and Eastern European countries. He graduated from the Law School of the University of Athens and continued his postgraduate studies at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne in Germany.

Lee Feinstein is founding Dean and Professor of International Studies at the Hamilton Lugar School at Indiana University Bloomington. Prior to joining HLS, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Poland (2009-2012). Before that he was a senior fellow and deputy director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, specializing in U.S. foreign policy, international institutions and national security affairs. He served on the Presidential Transition Team for President Obama and as Principal Deputy Director and member of the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State from 1994-2001. Feinstein serves on the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, a presidentially appointed position, and is a member of the Museum’s Executive Council. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the Board of the Kosciusko Foundation, on the Advisory Council of the Indiana University Center for Global Health, and on the Indiana Advisory Committee of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. He is the author of Means to an End: U.S. Interest and the International Criminal Court (with Tod Lindberg), and a regular commentator on international affairs.

Anna Diamantopoulou is founder and President of DIKTIO – Network for Reforms in Greece and Europe, an Athens-based think tank. A Civil Engineer by training with graduate studies in Regional Development. Member of the Greek Parliament for 11 years & European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (1999-2004). Minister of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs (2009-2012), and Minister of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping (March-May 2012). Presidium Member of the “Friends of Europe”, the Brussels-based think tank exploring thinking on the future of the EU, and Steering Committee Member of “Notre Europe-Jaques Delors Institute” the Paris-based think tank dedicated to European integration and unity. Member of the Scientific Council of Federation of European Progressive Studies (FEPS). Fisher Family Fellow (2012) of the Harvard Kennedy School lecturing on European Affairs, and Distinguished Scholar at Singapore’s Lee Kuan School of Public Policy (2015). Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy (2016-2018). Study visit (invited speaker) at the Republic of Korea, lecturing on the need of countries to adopt a National Strategy for Transitioning to the 4th Industrial Revolution, peer review meetings with the Korean Presidential Fourth Industrial Revolution Committee and with experts from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology and the Korea University (2018).

Eva Kaili was elected Member of the European Parliament in July 2014 with the Panhellenic Socialist Movement - Olive Tree and Head of the Hellenic S&D (Socialists & Democrats) delegation. During her term in Parliament, Eva has served as a member of the following Parliamentary Committees: Standing Committee on Cultural and Educational Affairs, Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs and Special Permanent Committee of Greeks Abroad. She is also a member of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean. She has represented Greece in a host of international conferences and special missions abroad. She obtained her undergraduate degree in architecture and engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In 2008, she was awarded a Master of Arts in International Relations by the University of Piraeus, Department of International and European Studies. Eva is currently studying towards a PhD in International Political Economy with the same university. She also took courses in Basic Principles of Economics at Harvard University in 2012. In the 2007 national elections she was elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for the first district of Thessaloniki. In 2004 national elections she was the youngest candidate standing. From 2004 to 2007 Eva worked as a journalist and anchorwoman for Mega Channel, one of the most important TV channels in Greece. She also studied journalism in Workshop for Professional Journalism, a private college in Athens before becoming a member of the Journalists’ Association of Athens.

John McCormick is Jean Monnet Chair of European Union Politics at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and was department chair from 2001 until 2008. He spent eight years working in the environmental movement (working for the World Wide Fund for Nature and the International Institute for Environment and Development) before becoming an academic. His research and teaching interests have moved from environmental policy to comparative politics and the politics and policies of the European Union. His 2010 book Europeanism is an attempt to pin down the political, economic and social features of Europe and Europeans. It argues that those who focus on the failures of European integration, the mixed record in the achievement of common European policies, and disagreements among European leaders, are missing the bigger picture: that a combination of history and the rise of the European Union have helped encourage Europeans to develop common positions on a wide range of issues. Europeanism today can be equated with reduced identification with the state, secularism, welfarism, cosmopolitanism, communitarianism, multiculturalism, civilian power, and multilateralism. His 2013 book Why Europe Matters makes the case for the European Union, and attempts to address the rising tide of euroscepticism by outlining the achievements of the European Union in promoting peace, democracy, open markets, and a new approach to international relations.

Justyna Zajac’s research interests focus on international relations with special emphasis on international security and foreign policy analysis. In her work – research, publications, and pedagogy – she has been primarily preoccupied with European security, broadly understood, and its Mediterranean and East-Central European aspects. She is also interested in Euro-Atlantic security and political cooperation in the context of global redistribution of power and Russia’s revisionist policy, in particular. Additionally, her research includes Poland’s foreign and security policy. She has published numerous books and papers in Poland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Jordan. Her most recent book Poland’s Security Policy: The West, Russia, and the Changing International Order was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2016. She has given lectures at various universities in Poland, the United States, Italy, Sweden, Serbia, Kosovo, Turkey, and India. In addition to research, she genuinely enjoys teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels. Among the courses she teach, there are: Theories of International Relations, Introduction to the Study of International Politics, International Politics, Poland’s Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Security, and Governance. Along with her work in the academia, her interest in analyzing problems at the crossroads of politics, policy, and science comes through public service. She was appointed by the President of the Republic of Poland to serve as a member of the National Strategic Review Committee. She was a member and a Chairperson of the Council of Young Scientists of the Minister of Science and Higher Education and a two-term member of the Steering Committee of the Standing Group on International Relations, European Consortium for Political Research. Finally, she authored a number of expert opinions for Poland’s Ministry of Regional Development and National Security Bureau as well as the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Franklin L. Hess is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute for European Studies and the Coordinator of the Modern Greek Program at Indiana University. In addition to teaching language courses, Dr. Hess also teaches a course on Greek cinema and the history and anthropology of Greece’s food cultures. His research interests include film, television, mass media, popular culture, and immigration. He is currently working on a book manuscript titled Civilization, Hellenism, and the Nation: An Uneasy Alliance. Dr. Hess also regularly presents on language pedagogy issues through the biennial Modern Greek Language Teaching Workshop. Recent presentations have focused on incorporating student-generated content into the classroom and the challenges of literacy-based approaches to language education. Last, Dr. Hess is a member of the Executive Board of the Modern Greek Studies Association, serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Modern Greek Studies, and is the Humanities Book Review Editor for Ergon: Greek/American Transnational Arts and Letters.