The European Policy Centre (EPC) is a Brussels-based not-for-profit think tank on European Union affairs, founded in 1997.
The European Policy Centre (EPC) is a Brussels-based not-for-profit think tank on European Union affairs, founded in 1997.
Under the presidency of Brigid Laffan, the EPC's Chief Executive is Fabian Zuleeg, a German economist. Its Director of Studies is Janis A. Emmanouilidis, a German-Greek political scientist and economist. The EPC's 33 analysts come from a range of backgrounds. They carry out research and analysis, organise expert meetings and events with the main stakeholders concerned with EU and global affairs and produce policy analysis online and in print. The EPC also works with 28 senior advisers and 14 academic fellows.
The EPC's policy work is organised under six main programmes:
In addition, the EPC runs the Connecting Europe project (supported by the Mercator Foundation), which promotes sustainable exchanges between civil society initiatives throughout Europe and the policy community in Brussels.
Past speakers include Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; Margaret Chan, former Director-General of the World Health Organization; Josep Borrell EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Vice President of the European Commission; Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission; Mario Draghi, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Central Bank; Jean-Claude Juncker, former President of the European Commission; Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank and former Director of the International Monetary Fund; Martin Schulz, former President of the European Parliament; Salil Shetty, former Secretary General of Amnesty International; Donald Tusk, former President of the European People's Party Group and former President of the European Council; as well as numerous high-ranking ministers and officials from a wide range of EU and non-EU countries.
The EPC's funding comes from a number of sources, including its strategic partners: the King Baudouin Foundation, based in Belgium and Stiftung Mercator, based in Germany, and the European Union 's CERV Programme. It also comes from membership fees, and grants from the EU and other organisations. Details of these are published on its website. [1]
Brigid Laffan is President of the European Policy Centre and chairs its Strategic Council, which includes many prominent EU figures: Jean-Claude Juncker, Frederica Mogherini, Joaquin Almunia, Maria Joào Rodrigues, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, Janez Potočnik, André Sapir, Wolfgang Schüssel, Rita Süssmuth, Marta Dassù, Catherine Day, Monica Frassoni, and Nathalie Tocci among many others.
The EPC's General Assembly and Governing Board are chaired by Declan Kelleher, Former Irish Ambassador to the EU and to China.
Former Presidents of the European Policy Centre include Herman Van Rompuy, Peter Sutherland (1998–2011) and Philippe Maystadt (2011–2014). Former Chairs of the Governing Board include David O'Sullivan, former EU Ambassador to the US, Hywel Ceri Jones, founder of the Erasmus Programme; António Vitorino, former European Commissioner; and Meglena Kuneva, former European Commissioner.
The EPC has a membership of around 350 organisations, which spans the spectrum of stakeholders, from diplomatic embassies to companies, non-governmental organisations, and regional and local authorities. [2] Members actively contribute to events, workshops, task forces and roundtables.
In January 2010, research was published alleging that in the 1990s EPC helped tobacco companies, as well as other industry groups, lobby "to ensure that the EU framework for evaluating policy options emphasised business interests at the expense of public health". [3] [4] [5]
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