EPP Enlarged Group Bureau Meeting EIN SUMMER UNIVERSITY The Mediterranean - Geopolitics and European integration Challenges and opportunities 29 June - 02 July 2016 SPLIT Service Documentation - Publications Recherche VADE-MECUM of the Speakers European Ideas Network 2 Vade-mecum of the speakers VADE-MECUM of the Speakers European Ideas Network 3 European Ideas Network 4 Vade-mecum of the speakers Ribal Al ASSAD, Founder and director, Organization for Democracy and Freedom in Syria Ribal Al-Assad is the Founder and Director of the Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria and Founder and Chairman of the Iman Foundation, which promotes global intercultural dialogue. He campaigns internationally for democracy, freedom and human rights, and is a regular speaker at international conferences, universities think tanks and other institutes, as well as writing regularly on these issues. Ribal has lived in the West since being exiled from his native Syria as a child. He is a leading authority on Syrian politics and how the current conflict is shaped by regional and geopolitical dynamics. He is also a staunch advocate of consistency and integrity in foreign policy, and believes liberal and democratic countries should uphold these values in all circumstances. Since entering public life, he has interacted with politicians, civil servants, academics, journalists, think tanks, pro-democracy, and human rights groups all around the world, from the US to the Far East. He is particularly involved in promoting interfaith and intrafaith dialogue and relations between Muslims, Jews and Christians around the globe. Ribal has successfully helped tackle intra-religious conflict and violence in Lebanon. One of his notable achievements was to help facilitate a rapprochement between the Alawite and the Sunni Muslims in North Lebanon. In 2006, Ribal founded the Al-Fursan Charity in Lebanon, which during religious festivals distributed food, presents and school items to people from across religions, sects and ethnic groups until its director was arrested and handed over to the Syrian regime in 2009. He also opened a small school to teach children foreign languages free of charge until its director was shot at and the school burned down by agents of the Syrian regime in 2007. Ribal was also chairman of the Arab News Network, one of the first Arabic TV channels, which promotes freedom and democracy across the Middle East. Though it still broadcasts elsewhere, the Arab News Network was blocked by the Syrian regime in 2009, leading Ribal to leave his position and found the Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria (ODFS) to show the regime he and others like him would not be stopped. The ODFS speaks out against the Syrian regime and its failure to provide a democratic future for the Syrian people. Miguel ÁNGEL SANCHO, President of European Foundation Society and Education Miguel Ángel Sancho is president of the Foundation Society and Education, a private and independent entity committed to public defense of education. The Foundation promotes research and debate concerning the multiple aspects which make up the strategic role of education as a foundation for progress and development of democratic society. The Foundation’s research department, the Institute of Educational and Social Studies, carries out legal, political, educational, economic, and sociological research. It creates space for reflection, analysis, training and assessment of institutions and entities both public and private and at the local, national, and international levels. Miguel Ángel received his license in Law from the University of Zaragoza and research scholar in Philosophy of Law. Finished the Senior Management Business Program (PADE) in the IESE Business School and went on to receive a doctorate of administrative law from the University of Zaragoza. Miguel Ángel’s professional activity has always been oriented towards management of educational organizations. In 1978 he was named CEO of the Tajamar Cultural and Sport Center, an educational institution which gives regulated and non-regulated teaching to over 3,000 students. He similarly was one of the promoters and counsel member of PROTEC, an applied technology and graphic design company. In 1995 he was named CEO of Fomento de Centros de Enseñanza, an educational company founded in 1963 which comprises 33 schools in 11 autonomous regions. In 1999 he assumed the Presidency of the Grupo Educativo Fomento, an institution which brings together diverse educational organizations and companies: Fomentos de Centros de Enseñanza and the Centro Universitario Villanueva, part of the Universidad Complutense of Madrid; the publisher ESC and the educational technology company ATE.net as well as other activities in support of teaching. Finally, in 2004 he co-founded the European Foundation Society and Education to improve the quality of education through critical analysis and research from an interdisciplinary perspective. Miguel Ángel has continually promoted forums of debate and reflection and has carried out various publications both in collaboration and independently. Examples include the monograph La autonomía de la escuela pública and Sistema Educativo y Descentralización Territorial, both in 2015. Additionally, he has participated as a presenter in various international conferences such as the “Second World Conference on the Right to Education” in Brussels and annual conferences on “International School Choice & Academic Reform” in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. European Ideas Network 5 Burkhard BALZ MEP, EPP Group Coordinator and Member of Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in the EP Born in 1969. Lower Saxony. 1989-91 vocational training as banker, Commerzbank AG Hannover. 1992-99 Studies of Law and Political Science, Georg-August University Göttingen. 2001-2002 consultant in the EU representation of the Commerzbank AG, Brussels. Since 2002 corporate customer service officer, Commerzbank, AG Hannover. Since 2004 registered manager. Since 2006 Director of the Division Institutional Customer Business, Commerzbank AG Hannover. 1985 Joining of JU. 1989 Joining of the CDU. 1990-1996 Chairman of the JU district Hanover. 2002-2006 Chairman of CDU district Schaumburg. Since 1989 Member of the executive board of the CDU Hanover. Since 2009 first Vice-Chairman, CDU Hannover. Member of the executive board on the CDU in Lower Saxony since 2010. MEP since 2009. Katherine BAUER, Senior Fellow, Washington Institute, former official at the U.S. Treasury Department Katherine Bauer is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former Treasury official who served as the department’s financial attaché in Jerusalem and the Gulf. Before leaving Treasury in late 2015, she served several months as senior policy advisor for Iran in the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes (TFFC). During the two previous years, she served as financial attaché for the Gulf, representing the department in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Her other posts include assistant director of TFFC; financial attaché in Jerusalem, with responsibility for policy, technical assistance, and sanctions matters in the West Bank and Gaza (2009-2011); and senior analyst focused on illicit financial networks (2006-2009). Prior to working at the Treasury, Bauer was a nonproliferation graduate fellow at the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. A graduate of Macalester College, she received her master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies and international economics from the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Heinz K. BECKER MEP, EPP Group Vice-Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs Committee in the EP Born in 1950. Lower Austria. Professional activity - Advertising / Marketing (1974-2011): Gramm & Grey, Vienna; Österreichische Philips Industrie, Vienna; GKK International, Vienna; Grey Group, Vienna (Agency Head); MediaCom media agency (founder and Chief Executive); BZW Advertising, Vienna (Agency Head); Self-employed: Becker advertising agency, Vienna & Perchtoldsdorf. Political posts (since 2001): Secretary-General of the Austrian Senior Citizens’ Association; Member of the Executive Committee of the European Senior Citizens’ Union; Member of the executive committee of the Main Association of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions and of the Political Academy. European Parliament (since 2011): Co-chair of the parliamentary Intergroup on Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity; Member of the European Alzheimer’s Alliance. MEP since 2011. European Ideas Network 6 Vade-mecum of the speakers Jorge BENTO SILVA, Deputy Head of Counter Terrorism Unit, Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs, EC Jorge Bento Silva joined the European Commission in 1987 and is currently deputy and acting Head of the “Terrorism and Crisis Management” in the Commission’s Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs. For nearly two decades Jorge held diverse responsibilities in the EU’s external security domain, including as geographic desk officer for Yemen, Iraq, Iran; Turkey, Russia, the Ukraine, Caucasus and Central Asia. He represented the institution in numerous international fora including the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the Arab league. On 11 de March 2004, on the wake of the Madrid attacks he volunteered to join the Directorate General for Justice, Freedom and Security where he undertook different functions in the counter terrorism domain having coordinated