The Team of Feps

Secretary General

Ernst Stetter was nominated as Secretary General of the newly created Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) on January 30th 2008. He is also a regular commentator on EU affairs in the media.

In 1976 Ernst Stetter began his professional career as a lecturer in economics at the DGB Trade Union Centre for Vocational Training in Heidelberg. From 1980 to 2008 he worked for the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in various positions. He spent the first four years at the FES as a Consultant in Dakar, Senegal. In 1988, Ernst Stetter was appointed as Head of the Africa Department. In 1994 he started working as Head of the Central Europe Unit. In 1997 he moved to Paris and became the Director of the FES Office in France while in 2003 he was appointed as Director of the EU-Office of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Brussels.

Ernst Stetter is an economist and political scientist. He studied in Tübingen and Heidelberg (Germany) focusing on international trade, finance, economic and social policy as well as development issues. In 1980 he obtained his PhD in political science for his dissertation entitled The Association of ACP-Countries (Lomé I and II) to the European Community and the STABEX-System.

In 2003 he received the French decoration of Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite.

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Responsible for Communication and Public Affairs

Born in Abidjan on December 31, 1976 and holds a Masters in Eurojournalism, Alain Bloëdt is a journalist and former spokesman of the European Commission.

His mission at FEPS is to develop communication and deepen relations with national foundations. Growing up in Pau, France, Alain began by studying history there, specialising on Britain's European policy; research which brought him on a six month Erasmus programme in Wales. Trained in journalism at Laval University, Québec and the Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg, he worked for Canadian media then for Agence Europe in Brussels and finally had the opportunity to work for two MEPs in their constituency offices in the South-West of France.

In 2005, he returned to Brussels as a spokesperson in charge of francophone media for the President of the European Commission. He joined FEPS in February 2011.

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Senior Research Fellow | Managing Editor of Queries

Ania SKRZYPEK, (Skrzypek-Claassens), born in Warsaw in 1979, is Policy Advisor at the Foundations for European Progressive Studies (FEPS). She holds Ph.D. cum laude in political sciences from the University of Warsaw, which degree she obtained for her thesis “Cooperation of the socialist and social democratic parties in uniting Europe. From Liaison Bureau to PES. 1957 – 2007.” (also published in book format in 2010). Before joining FEPS in 2009, A. Skrzypek worked as younger researcher at the Faculty of Journalism and Political Sciences at the University of Warsaw (2003 – 2009) and also served as twice consecutively elected Secretary General of Young European Socialists (ECOSY, 2005-2009). Among her responsibilities at FEPS, she is in charge of the Next Left Research Programme, she co-coordinates FEPS Young Academics Network (FEPS YAN), is a co-editor of the Next Left Book Series and Managing Editor of FEPS Scientific Magazine “Queries”.

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Executive Secretary

Charlotte grew up in Sheffield, England. She graduated in European Studies and French at the University of Leeds, where she was also a member of the University Labour Club, and worked as an intern in the constituency office of Richard Corbett MEP.

After graduating in 2006, Charlotte Billingham taught English as a foreign language for the British Council in Mexico for one year, before starting working for FEPS in February 2008.

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Policy Advisor

Raised in Claremorris in the west of Ireland, David received a First Class Honours for his BA (International) in History and Politics from University College Dublin in 2006.

As part of his undergraduate studies he also spent a year at the Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao (Spain) on an Erasmus exchange. Subsequently, he worked in the service industry and as a secondary school teacher before leaving Ireland to take an MSc in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics where he was awarded the Bill Letwin prize on the basis of his results.

Upon completing his studies in September 2008, David moved to Brussels to work as a Francis Vals trainee on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament. He has been at FEPS since March 2009.

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Financial Advisor

After his accounting studies at the EPFC in Brussels, Gaston SIMON undertook post-graduate studies in Accounting at EPHEC in Brussels which he completed with a thesis concerning the IFRS standards applied to the evaluation of fixed assets.

He obtained his degree in chartered accountancy in 2001. He began his career at the Financial Service of the National Geographic Institute where he worked for four years.

In 1990, he was hired by the Financial Service of the Press group Rossel et Cie (publishers of Le Soir of Brussels) where he worked for nineteen years, reaching the level of Tax Manager. He joined FEPS in November 2009.

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Policy Advisor

Born in Budapest, Hungary, she graduated at the Faculty of Law of ELTE University, (Budapest) and spent one semester at K.U. Leuven, Belgium.

She took part in the Refugee Law Clinic of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee in Budapest, and worked as an intern for the Progress Lawyers’ Network in Brussels in 2007.

She specialises in human rights, labour law and social law. She started working for FEPS in August 2008.

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Administrative Assistant

Marie-Astrid Mukankusi works at the FEPS as an Administrative Assistant since October 2011. Her tasks include assisting the FEPS team in overall coordination, organizing events and administrative support. Previously, Marie-Astrid has worked at the European Parliament and at the British Embassy in Brussels as Procurement Assistant. She holds a Bachelor degree in Marketing and Communication.

Senior Research Fellow

Born near Grenoble (France), he received his Ph.D. in Economics in December 2007.

His research was conducted under the supervision of Professor C. Benetti, University Paris X-Nanterre. He belongs to the Research Centre PHARE (Pôle d’Histoire et d’Analyse des Représentations Economiques, University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne). His work ranges from the History of Economic Thought to modern Economic analysis.

Matthieu MEAULLE is specialised in pure economic theory as is highlighted by his dissertation on the connections between K. Marx and F. Hayek. During his masters and Ph.D., he received public funding for his research on the basis of his academic excellence.

First he was a student teacher and then invited teacher and was later nominated as assistant teacher until September 2006.

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