The Scientific Council

The inaugural meeting of the FEPS Scientific Council took place on 19th May 2010 in Brussels.

The objectives of the FEPS Scientific Council are detailed in Article 17.4 of the statutes of FEPS, which state that “(t)he Scientific Council is responsible for the scientific work of the FEPS. It debates the programmes, carries out research and answers all scientific questions put by the General Assembly or the Bureau.”

This article was completed with an agreement between the member organisations of FEPS reached during the General Assembly of 18th November 2009, where they decided that “(t)he Scientific Council of FEPS will play a crucial role in preparing the way to the political reflection of the Foundation and its members in a few crucial domains: a) current and future trends and movements of the world: what is happening? b) current and future developments within the progressive movement: what is happening to us? c) the next/other progressive model for development: what is it made of? d) Europe.”

Working methods

The FEPS Scientific Council acts first and foremost as an advisory board to the Foundation, both on the intellectual/scientific and strategic levels. As such, it should be able to give direction and advice on the research work of the Foundation, therefore preparing and determining the main guidelines of the foundation’s research work.

Once gathered together and put at the service of the Foundation, the outstanding and diverse backgrounds and experiences of the members of the Council shall seek to give added value to the work of FEPS, in both academic and political terms, within a progressive perspective and from a medium and long-term time frame.

The FEPS Scientific Council shall meet formally 2-3 times a year in order to discuss the recent developments in the world and their effect on the research orientation of FEPS. The outcome of these discussions shall be summarised in a working document that will be used as a guidelines when drafting the future activities of FEPS.

In addition to these formal meetings and documents, members of the Scientific Council may gather informally as many times as deemed necessary – according, naturally, to the availability of the members - and may in particular seize the opportunity of events organised by the Foundation to organise sideline meetings.

Members

Still under an ongoing process of elaboration, the Scientific Council is already composed of the following members.

Henri NALLET, President
Former minister, Vice-President of the Fondation Jean-Jaurès (France)

Christian DEUBNER
Independent consultant ; Member of the FEPS Research Group (Germany)

Prof. Claudio DE VINCENTI
Representative of the Fondazione Italianieuropei, Professor of economics at the university of Rome “la Sapienza” (Italy)

Juha ESKELINEN
Executive Director of the Kalevi Sorsa Foundation (Finland)

André GERRITS
Chairman of the Alfred Mozer Foundation (The Netherlands)

Nicole GNESOTTO
Professor holding the chair on the European Union at the Centre national des Arts et Métiers (France)

Stephany GRIFFITH-JONES
Executive Director, Initiative for Policy Dialogue (United States of America)

Alfred GUSENBAUER
Former Chancellor of Austria

Madeleine HARBY SAMUELSSON
Chief of Staff, Secretary General’s Office, Swedish Social Democratic Party

Gustav HORN
Economist, Director of Institute for Macroeconomic Research IMK, (Germany)

András INOTAI
General Director, Institute of World Economics, Hungary; Member of the FEPS Research Group (Hungary)

Grzegorz W. KOŁODKO
Head of the think-tank TIGER (Transformation, Integration and Globalization Economic Research) at the Kozminski University (Poland)

Atis LEJINS
President of the Freedom and Solidarity Foundation (Latvia)

Roger LIDDLE
Chair of Policy Network (United Kingdom)

Bruno LIEBHABERG
Secretary General of the Gauche Réformiste Européenne (Belgium)

Ingrid MATTHÄUS-MAIER
Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Germany)

Adrian NASTASE
President of the Scientific Council of the Ovidiu Sincai Institutul , Former Prime Minister of Romania

Guy RIDER
Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation

Maria João RODRIGUES
Special Advisor PES/FEPS (Portugal)

Alex SCEBERRAS TRIGONA
Professor of Private International Law, Former Foreign Minister of Malta

Dimitris TSAROUHAS
Assistant Professor, Bilkent University; Member of the FEPS Research Group (Turkey)

Giuseppe VACCA
President of the Fondazione Instituto Gramsci (Italy)

Josef WEIDENHOLZER
President of Solidar (Belgium)