The Presidency meets regularly (every two to four months) in between Congresses and takes decisions on the daily management of the work of the PES.
The Presidency consists of the President (who chairs the meetings), one representative of each full member party, one representattive of each full member organisation, the Secretary General and the President of the Parliamentary Group of the PES. The President of the European Parliament (if s/he is a member of the Socialist & Democrats Group) and one representative per associate party/organization also take part in Presidency meetings.
Ad Personam
Sergei Stanishev - Interim President
Philip Cordery - Secretary General
Full Members of the Presidency
Werner Faymann - SPÖ Austria
Elio Di Rupo - PS Belgium
Said El Khadraoui - SP.A Belgium
Kristian Vigenin - BSP Bulgaria
Kyriakos Mavronikolas - EDEK Cyprus
Vladimir Spidla - CSSD Czech Republic
Nicolai Wammen - SD Denmark
Ivari Padar - SDE Estonia
Johannes Koskinen - SDP Finland
Alain Richard - PS France
Martin Schulz - SPD Germany
Stavros Lambrinidis - PASOK Greece
László Kovács - MSZP Hungary
Alexandra Dobolyi - MSZDP Hungary
Ruairi Quinn - Treasurer ; LP Ireland
To be nominated - DS Italy
Luca Cefisi - PS Italy
Atis Lejins - LSDSP Latvia
Justas Paleckis - LSDP Lithuania
Alex Bodry - LSAP Luxembourg
George Vella - PL Malta
Kirsten Meijer - PvdA Netherlands
Espen Barth Eide - DNA Norway
Boguslaw Liberadzki - SLD Poland
Katarzyna Matuszewska - UP Poland
João Ribeiro - PS Portugal
Corina Cretu - PSD Romania
Vladimir Manka - SMER Slovakia
Borut Pahor - SD Slovenia
Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar - PSOE Spain
Urban Ahlin - SAP Sweden
Emma Reynolds - LP Great Britain, United Kingdom
To be nominated - SDLP Northern Ireland
Full Member Organizations
Hannes Swoboda - S&D Group in the European Parliament
Karl-Heinz Lambertz - PES Group in the Committee of the Regions
Zita Gurmai - PES Women
Kaisa Penny - ECOSY
Ernst Stetter - FEPS
Associate parties
Edi Rama - PSS Albania
Zlatko Lagumdzija - SDP Bosnia Herzegovina
Iglika Ivanova - PBS Bulgaria
Neven Mimica - SDP Croatia
Zoran Popov - SDUM FYR Macedonia
Dagur B Eggertsson - Samylkingin Iceland
Predrag Sekulic - DPS Montenegro
Ranko Krivokapic - SDP Montenegro
Milos Jevtic - DS Serbia
Walter Suter - SP Switzerland
Fayik Yagiyaz - DTP Turkey
Kader Sevinç - CHP Turkey
Associate Organisations
To be nominated - Socialist International
To be nominated - Socialist Group in the Council of Europe
To be nominated - Socialist Group in the OSCE
Werner Faymann, SPÖ, Austria
Werner Faymann was born in Vienna on 4 May 1960. He studied law and started his political career as chair of the Vienna branch of the socialist youth. He was a member of the Vienna provincial parliament from 1985-1994. During a part of his mandate he was also the managing director and regional chairman of the Viennese Tenant Organization. Member of the Viennese local government from 1994 - 2007, he was the responsible councilor for living, housing and urban redevelopment, president of the Apartment Fund Vienna – fund for housing and urban redevelopment – and vice-president of the Viennese promotion of economy development fund. In January 2007 Werner Faymann was nominated Federal Minister for traffic, innovation and technology and since August 2008 he has been the Chairman of the social-democratic party of Austria (SPÖ).
Elio Di Rupo, PS, Belgium
Elio Di Rupo was born in Belgium on 18 July 1951. He graduated as Doctor of Sciences at the University of Mons-Hainaut (highest distinction). He started his professional activities in the scientific domain: Lecture Member of Staff, University of Leeds (Great Britain) (1977-1978); Assistant at the Service of General Chemistry and Material Sciences, University of Mons (UMH) (1978); Researcher at the Institute for Scientific Research in Industry and Agriculture (I.R.S.I.A.) (1979); Head of the Research Department at the University of Mons (1982). Elio Di Rupo started his political career as a Member of the city council of Mons (1982-2000); Alderman of the city of Mons (1986-1987); National representative (1987-1989); Representative of the European Parliament (1989-1991); Senator (1991-1995); National representative (1995 - re-elected in 1999-2000); Mayor of Mons (as from 2001); National representative (as from 2003). His governmental functions were: Minister of Education (1992-1994) and Audio-visual Media (1993-1994); Deputy Prime Minister of the federal Government (1994-1999); Minister-President of the Walloon Government (1999-2000). Today, Elio Di Rupo is Minister of State; President of the Socialist Party (PS); Professor at the University of Mons-Hainaut and Vice-President of the Socialist International Party.
Said El Khadraoui, SP.A, Belgium
CV coming up soon.
Kristian Vigenin, BSP, Bulgaria
CV coming up soon
Iglika Ivanova, PBS Bulgaria
Iglika Ivanova was born on April, 25th, 1957 in the city of Sofia. She graduated from the Law Faculty of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in 1980. Until 1993 she worked as a legal advisor and since then she has been working as a barrister. She is a member of the Organization of Barristers in Sofia. Since 1993 Iglika Ivanova has been a member of the Bulgarian Socialdemocrats' Party. In 2001 she was appointed a member of the Party's National Committee and its legal affairs secretary. Since 2005 she has been vice-president and international secretary of the Party. She is also president of Women's Social Democratic Confederation. Since June 2005, Iglika Ivanova has been a deputy at the Bulgarian Parliament. She is a member of the Legal Issues Comission and Citizen's Complaints and Petitions Comission. In 2005 and 2006 she was an observer at the European Parliament.
Neven Mimica, SDP, Croatia
CV coming up soon
Kyriakos Mavronikolas, EDEK, Cyprus
Vladimir Spidla, CSSD, Czech Republic
Born on April 22, 1951 in Prague, Mr Špidla completed his secondary education in 1970 to enrolin the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague where he read history and prehistory. Without party affiliation before 1989, Mr.Spidla is one of the founding members of the CSSD, the Czech Social Democratic Party. In 1990, Mr Špidla became Vice-Chairman of the Jindřichùv Hradec District National Committee responsible for education, health care, social affairs and culture. In 1991 - 1996, he served as director of the local job centre. In 1992, he became a member of the Presidium of the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), in March 1997 its statutory Vice-Chairman, and in April 2001 Chairman of the CSSD. In the Chamber of Deputies, to which he was elected in 1996, he served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Social Policy and Health Care Committee. From July 22, 1998 to July 12 2002, he held the post of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs authorised by the Government to co-ordinate the departments of labour and social affairs, health care, education, youth and physical training, the environment, and culture. He was appointed as Prime Minister on July 12, 2002. Between 2004-2009 Mr Spidla was European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.
Nicolai Wammen, SD, Denmark
Nicolai Halby Wammen was born on 7 February 1971. He studied Political Science at the University of Aarhus. He is mayor of the Municipality of Aarhus as of 1 January 2006. As Mayor he is a member of the presidency of the Business Policy Committee of the Municipality of Aarhus, chairman of the board of the Port of Aarhus, chairman of the board of the Aarhus Festival, chairman of the Local Committee concerning Police Activities, and chairman of the License Commission. Since September 2005 he has been vice-president of the Social Democrats. He was also member of Aarhus City Council 1997-2006 (leave of absence whilst serving as Member of Parliament 2001-2005), deputy chairman of the Social Democratic city council group and political spokesman, chairman of the Schools and Cultural Committee, and member of the Financial Committee. He was president of Frit Forum Aarhus between 1996 and1997. He was Member of Parliament for the Aarhus County Constituency (the Skanderborg Constituency) 2001-2005.
Ivari Padar, SDE, Estonia
Ivari Padar was born on 12 March 1965 in Navi village, Võru Rural Municipality, Estonia. He is married and has a son and a daughter. He completed his studies in 1995 at the University of Tartu, where he graduated in history. His first job was as transportation worker in 1984. From 1988 to 1990, he worked as a carpenter at Võru Department of Repairs and Construction. He then was a teacher at Võru 9 year School No. 2 (1990–1991). Ivari Padar became Assistant Mayor, Võru City Government (1993–1994), then Chairman of Võrumaa Farmers Union (1994–1995). From 1995 to 1997, he was Assistant to the Chancellor at the Ministry of Finance. In 1997–1999 AS HT Hulgi, Director General for Agriculture, then Minister of Agriculture from 1999 to 2002. He was Chairman of the Estonian Social Democratic Party between 1999-2009.
Johannes Koskinen, SDP, Finland
Johannes Koskinen was born on 10 December 1954 in Janakkala, Finland. He is married with two children. He graduated with a master of Laws. He was a member of Janakkala Municipal Council (1977-1988) and of Hämeenlinna Town Council (since 1989). Johannes Koskinen was presenter in the Administrative Board of Häme (1978-1979), then at the Ministry of the Interior (1980-1982). He worked as a lawyer with the Building Workers' Union (1982-1985) and with the Confederation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK (1985-1987). Johannes Koskinen joined the Minister of Labour as political secretary (1987-1988), where he became ministerial secretary in 1989. He was legislative secretary of the SDP parliamentary group (1989-1991) and has been Member of the Parliament since 1991. Johannes Koskinen was chairman of the Supervisory Board of VR-Group Ltd (1995-1999) and Minister of Justice (5 April 1999 - 23 September 2005). As from October 2005, he is a member of the Presidency of the PES.
Alain Richard, PS, France
Alain Richard was born on 29 August 1945, in Paris, France. He is a senior member of the Council of state (Conseil d'Etat). Mayor of Saint-Ouen l'Aumône since March 1977, he was a senior advisor during the five years he spent in the government before resuming his mandate as mayor at the end of 2002. He entered the Conseil d'Etat in 1971, while concurrently teaching at the Reims and Paris I universities and at the Institute of political studies from 1971 to 1978. He was elected MP for Val d'Oise in 1978 and was re-elected until 1993. He was Vice-President of the parliamentary Committee in charge of reviewing legislation from 1981 to 1986, then Vice-President of the National Assembly from 1987 to 1988. He was also General Rapporteur for the Finance Committee in the Parliament (1988-1993); From 1989 to 1997, he was also Chairman of the Cergy-Pontoise New Town association. He then became Senator for Val d'Oise and Secretary of the Senate Finance Committee from September 1995 until June 1997, before being appointed Minister of Defence from June 1997 till May 2002. In this capacity, he carried out a complete re-structuring of the armed forces, and contributed to reorganising all industries related to the defence field (EADS, DCN, etc.). As soon as 1998, he set in motion the first steps towards the creation of a Defence Europe. A member of the national board of the French Parti socialiste, he has now become vice-president of the Party of European Socialists since May 2003.
Zoran Popov, SDUM, FYR Macedonia
CV coming up soon.
Martin Schulz, SPD, Germany
Martin Schulz was born on 20 December 1955. Since 1984 he has been a municipal councilor in Würselen. He became mayor of Würselen between 1987 and 1998. From 1991-1999 he was member of the SPD Party Council. Since 1995 he has been member of the Mittelrhein SPD Executive. He has been chairman of the SPD Aachen District since 1996 and since 1999 he has been member of the SPD Federal Executive. 1994 he has become a Member of the European Parliament. He was the PSE Group coordinator of the Subcommittee on Human Rights (1994 -1996) and PSE Group coordinator of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Home Affairs (1996-2000). He was the first vice-chairman of the PSE Group from 2002 to 2004 and President of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialists & Democrats from 2004 to 2012. In January 2012 he was elected President of the European Parliament.
Stavros Lambrinidis, PASOK, Greece
Stavros Lambrinidis was born on 6 February 1962. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Political Science/Psychology from Amherst College, USA in 1984 and in 1988 he received his Juris Doctor Degree from Yale Law School. He was elected Member of the European Parliament in June 2004. He is the Head of the Greek Socialist Delegation to the European Parliament. He is Vice-Chairman of the Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, and the Parliament's Rapporteur on the Integration of Immigrants in Europe and on the Protection of Critical Infrastructures. He is member of the PASOK National Council. Between 1999 and 2004, Mr. Lambrinidis was Ambassador ad personam of the Hellenic Republic. He was member of the Steering Committee on the negotiation and implementation of nine bilateral agreements with Turkey in a wide range of fields. He also served as coordinator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' participation in the preparations for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. From July 2000 to October 2005, Mr. Lambrinidis was also the Director-General of the International Olympic Truce Centre (IOTC). From October 1996 to August 1999, Mr. Lambrinidis was the Secretary General of the Greek Foreign Ministry responsible for expatriate Greeks. From January to October 1996 he served as Chief of Staff to Minister for Foreign Affairs Theodore Pangalos. Between 1993 and 1995 he was Special Advisor to Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and, subsequently, Minister for National Education George Papandreou.
Agnes Vadai, MSZP, Hungary
CV coming up soon.
Alexandra Dobolyi, MSZDP, Hungary
Alexandra Dobolyi was born on 26 September 1971 in Hungary. She studied Social Sciences at Janus Pannonius University from 1994/95 - 1999/2000. In 2000, she started her Ph.d in the University of Pécs than she continued her Ph.d studies at the University Eötvös Loránd. From 1990 to 1998, she worked as an Interpreter (German, English), at the Hungarian Parliament. In 1998-1999, she obtained a scholarship from the Zilk Foundation, and was assigned to the Austrian delegation to the Party of European Socialist. From 1998 to 2002, she was appointed expert on foreign affairs, at the Hungarian Parliament, Hungarian Socialist Party. In 2000, she got a scholarship from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, followed in 2001 by another one from Karl Renner Institute: both scholarships led her to work at the European Parliament, Brussels. In 2001-2002, she obtained a scholarship from the Party of European Socialists and was assigned to the PES group. From 2002 to 2004, she was the International Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Party. As from 2004, she is Member of the European Parliament. In 2007 she was appointed as the Foreign Policy Director of the MSZP.
Ruairi Quinn T.D., LP, Ireland
Ruairi Quinn was born on 2 April 1946. He is married and has three children. He studied Architecture and was also a Lecturer in Architecture, Housing and Urban Design at University College, Dublin. He spent all his professional career as an Architect and published numerous articles on housing, urban design, planning and environmental issues. His political career started in 1974 when he became Member of Dublin City Council, which he remained until 1977. He was then Member of Seanad Éireann (1976-1977) and again in 1981-1982. Ruairi Quinn was elected Dáil Éireann in 1977-1981 and in 1982. He was then appointed Minister of State, Department of the Environment (1982-1983), Minister for Labour (1984-1987), Minister for the Public Service (1986-1987), Minister for Enterprise and Employment (1993-1994) and Minister for Finance (1994-1997). Ruairi Quinn was also Chairman Social Affairs Committee, Dáil Éireann (1984), Member of EU Council of Ministers for Social Affairs (1983-1987) and Leader of Civic Alliance and Labour Group (1991-1993). He was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1990 to 1997 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2002. Ruairi Quinn is Member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and Member of Amnesty International.
To be nominated, DS, Italy
Luca Cefisi, PS, Italy
Luca Cefisi was born on 22 november 1964. He has been a Socialist youth leader in Italy and a Vice-President of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), and has been active in the PES framework since its foundation, managing the european activities of Socialisti Democratici Italiani (now Partito socialista). He also publishes regularly on Italian political magazines and news agencies, on European social democracy..
Atis Lejins - LSDSP Latvia
CV coming up soon.
Justas Paleckis, LSDP, Lithuania
CV coming up soon.
Alex Bodry, LSAP, Luxembourg
Alex Bodry was born in Dudelange, Luxembourg, on 3 October 1958. He is married and has two daughters. He got a Masters Degree in Law at the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and did complementary studies on Luxembourguese law. He was elected Member of Parliament in 1984, and has been re-elected ever since. Between 1989 and 1999 Alex Bodry was: Minister of the Environment and Planning; Minister of the Police; Minister of Energy, of Youth and Sports and Minister of Communications. He is mayor of Dudelange and a barrister. He is also MP and vice-president of the parliamentary group of Luxembourg's Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) since 1999. He has been president of the LSAP since October 2004.
Dr George Vella, PL, Malta
Dr George Vella was born in 1942. He is married and has three children. He has been a doctor by profession since 1964. He was elected as a member of the Maltese parliament in 1978 and headed Malta's delegation at the local and regional authorities conference in the Council of Europe. He was also a substitute member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and of the Council's commission for the relations with the European Parliament. Between 1996 and 1998 Dr George Vella was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs. In April 1997 he was appointed honorary President of the second Euro-Med Conference which was held in Malta. As Malta's Foreign Minister, Dr Vella made official visits to China, Italy, Belgium, Tunisia, Austria, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Greece, Germany and Egypt. He representaed the Malta Labour Party at various meetings of the OSCE, IPU and Socialst International. Dr Vella was also the Malta Labour Party's substitute member at the Convention for the Future of Europe. Today he is the Malta Labour Party's main spokesperson on European Affairs.
Kirsten Meijer, PvdA, Netherlands
Kirsten Meijer (born in 1979) was elected International Secretary of the PvdA at the party congress on the 22nd of January 2012. Before that she was a campaign coordinator at Amnesty International. She started her work in the party headquarters in 2002 as a (senior) project manager for the Alfred Mozer Stichting, the international foundation for social democracy. In this capacity she was involved in supporting social democratic parties and movements in transition countries through training as well as political conferences and fact-finding missions for the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity. Kirsten was a member of the national campaign team of the PvdA for the European elections (2009), the local elections (2010) and the parliamentary elections (2010). Kirsten has a MA degree in Human Geography.
Espen Barth Eide, DNA, Norway
Espen Barth Eide was born on 1 May 1964. He studied political science at the University of Oslo and Ciencias Políticas, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. He started his professional career as Project director and acting secretary general of the Norwegian European Movement during the campaign preceding Norway's 1994 referendum on membership in the European Union (1991-1993). From 1993 to 1996, he was Researcher then Director of NUPIs UN Programme (1996-2000). From 2000 to 2001, he was State Secretary (Deputy Foreign Minister) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2002, he has been Director of the Department of International Politics at Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. Espen Barth Eide is an active member of the Labour Party since 1979. He has held several positions in the Labour Party Youth (early 1980s), later Labour Party particularly in relation to the international work of the party.
Boguslaw Liberadzki, SLD, Poland
Katarzyna Matuszewska, UP, Poland
Katarzyna Matuszewska was born on 11 March 1974. She has been Member of the Polish Labour Youth since 1995. As from 1999, she has been Member of the international team of the Falcon Educational Center Kurt Loewenstein, Werftpfuhl, Germany; she is a Lecturer and manages international training programs. Between 1999 and 2001, she was International Secretary of Polish Labour Youth. In 2001, she co-founded the Foundation for European Education Stefan Okrzeja, where she does volunteer work on the projects for democratisation of East Europe, especially in Belarus and Ukraine in co-operation with the Forum for Democracy and Solidarity. From 2002 to 2004, she was Political Adviser to the Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Chairperson of Unia Pracy/Union of Labour, Responsible for International Relations. Since 2002, she has been Member of the PES Presidency and International Secretary of Unia Pracy/Union of Labour (UP). As from January 2005, she is President of the Council of the Foundation for European Education Stefan Okrzeja.
João Ribeiro, PS, Portugal
João Ribeiro was born on 4 August 1976. International Secretary and Spokesperson of the Socialist Party in Portugal, he also is the Executive Director of ResPublica Foundation and Researcher at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences Department of Sociology at the New University of Lisbon.
Between 2000 and 2002 he was Deputy Secretary General of the Portuguese Young Socialists and, in 2004, he assumed the Presidency of the National Commission of the Portuguese Young Socialists until the year of 2008. João Ribeiro has worked as Adviser to the Deputy-Prime Minister at the 14th Constitutional Government of Portugal and as Deputy Chief of Staff and Adviser to the Minister of Justice during the 18th Government. He also headed the Portuguese Delegation at the OECD's Working group on Bribery in International Business Transactions and at the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption. He was Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference of Ministers of Justice of the Portuguese Speaking countries; Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference of Ministers of Justice of the Iberian-American countries; and Director of the International Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice.
João Ribeiro graduated in Law and holds a Master Law Degree and an Advanced course in Public Management. He is currently finishing his Sociology PhD “Research on corruption”.
Corina Cretu, PSD, Romania
Corina Cretu is Vice-president of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Vice-chairwoman of the Committee on Development of the European Parliament and member of the: Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis; Committee on Employment and Social Affairs Delegation for relations with the United States; Delegation for relations with Israel. She is Member of the European Parliament from 2007, reelected in 2009 and is sitting among the Party of European Socialists Group. Born June 24, 1967, Corina Cretu graduated from the Academy of Economic Studies' Faculty of Cybernetics (1989) and worked as an economist until 1990. After the Revolution, she was journalist and the Spokesperson of the former President of Romania, Ion Iliescu (2000-2004, when she was Head of the Public Communication Department of the Romanian Presidency). In 2004 she was elected to the Romanian Senate for the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and she developed her activity within the Foreign Policy Committee.
Borut Pahor, SD, Slovenia
Borut Pahor was born on 2 November 1963 in Postojna. He is married and has one child. In 1987 he graduated in International Relations from FSPN with highest award (Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana). In 1990 he was elected as a delegate to the Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. From the year 1992 until 2004 he was four times elected as a member of Slovenian National Assembly. In the time frame 2000-2004 he was President of the Slovenian National Assembly. Among many , he was Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee (1990-1992), member of the European Affairs Committee (1992-1996), Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee (1995), Vice-President of the National Assembly (1996-1997), member of the Foreign Relations Committee and the Constitutional Commission (2000-2004). From the very beginning he participated in, and subsequently headed, the Slovenian Parliamentary Delegation to the Council of Europe (1993-2000). In 1996 he was appointed one of the Delegation´s Deputy Chairman. He was member of the Assembly of the Western European Union (1993-1997) and member of the Executive Committee of the Interparliamentary Union (1995-1996). Since 1997 he is the President of the Political Party United List of Social Democrats who renamed in April 2005 to Social Democrats (SD). In June 2004 he was elected as a member of the European Parliament. Since then he is member of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, Member of the Committee on Budgetary Control, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, and substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chairman of the Delegation to EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, PSOE, Spain
CV coming up soon.
Urban Ahlin, SAP, Sweden
CV coming up soon
Walter Suter, SP, Switzerland
Walter Suter was born 1943 in Zurich, Switzerland. He graduated from the School for Public Administration of the Canton of Zurich, joined the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1964 and after his training he was successively transferred to Paris, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago de Chile, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Mumbai and Freiburg in Breisgau. From 1989 onwards, Walter Suter served as Head of the Swiss Diplomatic Missions in Paraguay and Lebanon, and as well as Consul General in Vancouver. In 1999 he becomes a member of the Socialist Party of Switzerland (SPS). He is then one of the co-founders of the International section of the party and the next year, he integrates the SPS Group of Experts for Foreign and Security Policy. In 2003, Walter Suter is nominated Ambassador of Switzerland to Venezuela, as well as to Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Kitts and Nevis. In August 2007 Walter Suter ends his mission in Venezuela, retires from the diplomatic career and becomes the President of the International Section of the SPS. He is the permanent representative of the SPS to the PES.
Deniy Baykal, CHP Turkey
Fayik Yagiyaz, DTP, Turkey
CV coming up soon.
Kader Sevinç, CHP, Turkey
An honors graduate from the Akdeniz University and Jean Monnet European Integration Program, Kader Sevinc pursued “business communication” training at the Harvard University, USA, and various training programs on quality improvement, standardization, human resources, advanced management applications and European affairs. Ms Sevinç obtained her MA on International Relations from CERIS-Brussels/Univ. Paris XI with “grand distinction” (Thesis: Theories of International Negotiation, European Union’s Enlargement and the Turkish Case”). She published on these issues and was awarded by the Turkish Industrialists’ and Business Association for her entrepreneurship project and by the European Commission for her project entitled “Turkey’s transformation and human capital in the EU accession process”. Kader Sevinç worked as an MEP adviser at the European Parliament (2005-2008) and served as vice-president of TOSED (Turkish Business Association-Brussels), member of the EU advisory board of Kagider (Women Entrepreneurs Association). Ms Sevinç is currently a European board member of TEMA, member of Ka-Der (Association to Support the Women in Politics) and EU adviser for Forum Istanbul. Her comments and interviews are published in the European and Turkish press and in the specialised news web sites of abhaber.com, euractiv.com.tr, CafeBabel.com. She is the co-author of a political poetry book “The European Constitution in Verse” (2009, Brussels). Since 1 September 2008, Ms Sevinç is the representative for the European Union of the Turkish social democratic party, the CHP, in Brussels and PES (Party European Socialists) Presidency Member.
Emma Reynolds, LP, Great Britain, United Kingdom
To be nominated, SDLP Northern Ireland
Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women
Zita Gurmai was elected as President of PES Women on 21 October 2004. Her ambition is to work with PES Women members to strengthen PES Women's activities within a reinvigorated PES. Zita has been active in Hungarian and international women's movements since the early 1990s. In 1995, she became involved in the women's section of the Hungarian Socialist Party, after which she was elected President of the organisation in 2001. One of her first major initiatives as President was to launch the “Women for Change†movement, often referred to as “yellow scarf movementâ€, which was successful in advocating the introduction of gender quotas in the Hungarian Socialist Party. Zita was instrumental in establishing and directing three foundations (Women in Public, Our Future, the Europe of the new Millennium Foundation and the Real Equal Opportunities Foundation) in Hungary which seek to improve gender equality in different areas. Zita plays an important role in the activities of the Central and Eastern European Network for Gender Issues which was set up in1998. The mission of the network is to assist progressive women from socialist and social democratic parties and NGOs in organising and promoting gender equality campaigns and initiatives. Elected as an MP in April 2002, Zita worked on the Hungarian Parliament's Committees on European Integration and Foreign Affairs. In the first European elections of the EU of 25 member states (June 2004), Zita was elected Member of the European Parliament. She is currently Vice-President of the Parliament's Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee and a member of Regional Development Committee. In the period preceding Hungary's accession to the EU, Zita was an observer to the European Parliament. Zita is also active on a global level. She is vice-president of Socialist International Women (elected in 1999). Amongst other activities, Pia Locatelli, President of Socialist International Women, and Zita are currently working on a Global Progressive Forum project on women and globalisation.
Kaisa Penny, President of ECOSY
Karl-Heinz Lambertz, PES Group in the Committee of the Regions
Karl-Heinz Lambertz was born on 4 June 1952 in Schoppen, Belgium. He studied law in Louvain-la-Neuve and further education in German law at the University of Heidelberg. Between 1976 and 1980, he started his career as an assistant professor at the Law department of the Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve (UCL). Moreover during that period, he was the President of the Council of the German-speaking Youth and a Member of the Commission for the Official German Translation of Laws and Decrees. In 1980, he was hired as a Consultant at the Office of the Minister for Institutional Reforms and deputy manager of Aerotech Ltd. By 1981, he became a member of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community. From 1981 to 1990, he continued working as a consultant for the SRIW (Société Régionale d'Investissement de Wallonie). During this time he also became Chairman of the Socialist Group in the Council of the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Between 1984 and 1990, he was President of the Socialist Party of the German-speaking Community of Belgium. He became a member of the Executive Board in 1986. From 1990 to 1999, he held two ministerial positions for the German speaking Community: he was in charge of Media, Adult Education, Policy for the Disabled, Social Aid and Professional Retraining (1990-1995), and later responsible for Youth, Training, Media and Social Matters (1995-1999). Since 1999, he has been Minister-President of the German speaking Community in Belgium. From 1999 to 2004, he was also Minister of the German speaking Community for Employment, Policy for the Disabled, Media and Sport; since 2004 he is also Minister of Local Authorities. Since 1999, he has been a Member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), active in the Commission for Culture, Education & Research (EDUC) and the Commission for Economic & Social Policy (ECOS). In 2009, he was nominated as a Member of the Bureau of the CoR and elected in March 2011 as First Vice-President of the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions. Since 18 May 2011, he has been Acting President of the Group.
To be nominated, Socialist International
To be nominated - Socialist Group in the Council Of Europe
To be nominated, Socialist Group in the OSCE
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