Honorary Council

Massimo D’Alema (Italian, 1949): Member of the Italian Parliament (1987-2013), Leader of PDS-DS (1994-1999), Prime Minister of Italy (1998-2000), Member of the European Parliament (2004-2006), and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy (2006-2008), President of the Foundation of European Progressive Studies (2010-2017).

Joaquín Almunia (Spanish, 1948): European Commission Vice President and European Commissioner for Competition (2010 – 2014), European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs (2004 – 2010), Leader of the PSOE (1997 – 2000), Minister for Public Administration in successive PSOE governments (1986 -1991), Member of the Spanish Parliament (1979 – 2004), Minister for Employment and Social Affairs (1982 -1986), Chief Economist at the UGT – a Spanish trade union – (1976 – 1979), Chairman of the Board of the Centre for European Policy Studies (since 2019).

José Manuel Barroso (Portuguese, 1956): Minister of Foreign Affairs (1992-1995), President of the Social Democratic Party (1999-2004), Prime Minister of Portugal (2002-2004) and President of the European Commission (2004-2014), Chairman and non-executive director of Goldman Sachs International (since 2016).

Josep Borrell (Spanish, 1947): Member of the European Parliament (2004-2009) and President of the European Parliament (2004-2007), High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Vice-President of the European Commission.

Mercedes Bresso (Italian, 1944): President of the Piedmont Region (2005-2010), President of the Committee of the Regions (2010-2012), Member of the European Parliament (2004-2009, re-elected in 2014), President of the Union of European Federalists (2006-2008).

John Gerard Bruton (Irish, 1947): Taoiseach of Ireland (1994-1997), Minister for Finance (1981–1982 and 1986–1987), Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism (1983–1986), Ambassador of the European Union to the United States (2004–2009), former Vice-President of the European People’s Party (EPP).

Jerzy Buzek (Polish, 1940): Prime Minister of Poland (1997-2001), Member of the European Parliament (since 2004) and President of the European Parliament (2009-2012).

Enrique Barón Crespo (Spanish, 1944): Member of the Spanish Parliament (1977-1987), Minister of Transport, Tourism and Communications (1982-1985), Member of the European Parliament (1987-2009) and its President (1989-1992), President of the European Movement International (1987-1989). He is the current President of Honour of the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and is a Gold Mercury International Advisory Board member.

Pat Cox (Irish, 1952): Member of Parliament (1992-1994), Member of the European Parliament (1989-2004), Leader of the ELDR Group (1998-2002) and President of the European Parliament (2002-2004), President of the EMI (2005-2011), President of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe (since 2015), Member of the Appointment Advisory Committee of the European Investment Bank (since 2017).

Jacques Delors (French, 1925): Member of the European Parliament (1979-1981), Minister of Finance (1981-1983) and President of the European Commission (1985-1995). Founder and President of “Notre Europe” (since 1996). In 2015 he was bestowed an honour of Honorary Citizen of Europe for extraordinary work to promote European cooperation.

Anna Diamantopoulou (Greek, 1959): European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (1999–2004), Greek Minister for Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs (2009-2012). She is currently President of the Greek think tank “TO DIKTIO”.

Andrew Duff (British, 1950): Member of the European Parliament (1999-2014), President of the Union of European Federalists (2008-2013),  President of The Spinelli Group (since 2017).

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen (Danish, 1941): Foreign Minister of Denmark (1982-1993), Leader of Venstre party (1984-1998), President of ELDR (1995-2000), Chairman of the Baltic Development Forum (since 1998), Honorary Chairman of BDF (since 2011), board member of several Danish and international companies.

Assunção Esteves (Portuguese, 1956): Member of the Portuguese Parliament (1987-1989 and 2002-2004), Judge of the Constitutional Court (1989-1998), Member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe (2002-2005), Member of the European Parliament (2004-2009), President of the Eurpoean Movement Portugal (2007-2011), President of the Portuguese Parliament (2011-2015).

José María Gil-Robles (Spanish, 1935): Member of the European Parliament for European People’s Party (1989-2004), President of the European Parliament (1997-1999), President of the European Movement International (1999-2005), President of the President of the European University Council for Jean Monnet Programmes (2001), President of the Association of former deputies of the European Parliament (2006-2010), President of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe (2009-2014).

Werner Hoyer (German, 1951): Member of the Bundestag (since 1987), Secretary General of FDP (1993-1994), ELDR Vice President (2000-2005), Minister of State at the Foreign Office (1994-1998 and 2009-2011), President of the European Investment Bank (since January 2012).

Danuta Hübner (Polish, 1948): United Nations Under-Secretary General (2000-2001), Minister for European Affairs (2003-2004), European Commissioner (2004-2009), Member of the European Parliament (since 2009).

Aleksander Kwaśniewski (Polish, 1954): Minister for Youth Affairs (1985-1987), President of the Polish Olympic Committee (1988-1991), Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (1990-1995), Member of the Parliament (1991-1995), President of Poland (1995-2005), Chairman of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (2008-2013).

Catherine Lalumière (French, 1935): Member of the French National Assembly (1981-1989), Secretary of State/Minister (1981-1986), Secretary General of the Council of Europe (1989-1994), Member of the European Parliament (1994-2004) and Vice President of the European Parliament (2001-2004). She was Vice-president of the European Movement International and is currently President of the Maison de l’Europe of Paris and President of the European Association of the Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe (since 2008).

Lord John Monks (British, 1945): General Secretary of TUC – Trades Union Congress (1993-2003), General Secretary of ETUC (2003-2011), Vice President of the EMI (2008-2011), Member of the House of Lords (since 2010).

Mario Monti (Italian, 1943): European Commissioner for Internal Market, Services, Customs and Taxation (1995-1999), European Commissioner for Competition (1999-2004), Senator (since 2011), Prime Minister of Italy (2011-2013). He is currently a Member of Appointment Advisory Committee of the European Investment Bank and Chairman of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development convened by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Ewa Osniecka-Tamecka (Polish, 1962): Undersecretary of State/Secretary of State at Office for European Integration and acting Chair of the European Committee of the Polish Council of Ministers (2006-2007) and Chief Negotiator/Sherpa, member of the Steering Committee of the European Investment Bank (2008-2010)., Vice Rector of the Natolin (Warsaw) campus of the College of Europe (since 2007).

Hans-Gert Pöttering (German, 1945): Member of the European Parliament for the European People’s Party (since 1979) and European Parliament President (2007-2009), Chairman of the EPP Group (1999-2007), Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (since 2009), Deputy Chairman of Advisory Board of A Soul for Europe, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees for establishing a “House of European History”.

Viviane Reding (Luxembourgish, 1951): President of the Luxembourg Union of Journalists (1986-1998), Member of the European Parliament (1989-1999, re-elected in 2014), European Commissioner for Education and Culture (1999-2004), European Commissioner for Information Society and Media (2004-2010) and Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship (2010-2014), Member of the European Parliament (2014 – 2018).

Maria João Rodrigues (Portuguese, 1955): Minister for Qualifications and Employment (1995-1997), former senior advisor  to then Prime Ministers António Guterres and José Sócrates, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, and PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the S&D Group (2014-2019), President of the European Foundation for Progressive Studies (since 2017).

Gesine Schwan (German, 1943): Political Science Professor at the Free University of Berlin since 1977 and President of the Viadrina European University – Frankfurt (1999-2008). Member of the SPD, she was its candidate for the German Presidential elections twice (2004 and 2009).

Karel Schwarzenberg (Czech, 1937): Chairman of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (1984-1991), Senator (2004-2010), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007-2009 and 2010-2013), Member of the Parliament (since 2010).

Lauri Tierala (Finnish): Secretary General of the European Movement Finland (2006-2008). Senior Political Adviser to Finland’s Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade (2008-2014), Special Adviser on EU Affairs to the Prime Minister (2014 – 2015)., Senior Adviser at Miltton (since 2018).

Teija Tiilikainen (Finnish): Chairperson of the Finnish International Studies Association (1994-1996), Political Science Professor at the University of Helsinki since 1997, Chairperson of the Forum for European Security (1999-2001), Special Representative of the Prime Minister in the Convention on the Future of Europe (2002-2003), State Secretary (2007-2008), Director of the Network for European Studies at Helsinki University since 2003.

Herman Van Rompuy (Belgian, 1947): Member of the Belgian Senate (1988-1995), Minister of the Budget (1993-1999), Member of the Chamber of Representatives (1999-2008) and its President (2007-2008), Prime Minister of Belgium (2008-2009), President of the European Council (2009-2014), Chairman of the board of the College of Europe (since 2019).

Guy Verhofstadt (Belgian, 1953): Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget (1985-1987) and Prime Minister of Belgium (1999-2008). He has been Member of the European Parliament since 2009 and was Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (2009 – 2019).

Monika Wulf-Mathies (German, 1942): Chair of the German Public Services and Transport Workers’ Union (1982-1994), EU Commissioner in charge of Regional Policies (1995-1999), President of EM-Germany (2000-2006).