Alicia García-Herrero doesn’t fool herself. Her work has become more challenging. She’s not referring to her main roles as a Senior Fellow at the prestigious European think tank Bruegel and as Chief Economist for the French investment bank Natixis in the Asia-Pacific region.Instead, she means that the underlying job has become more complicated: “It’s very […]
How quickly life can change, from peace to war, is a powerful memory for Romana Vlahutin that continues to shape her life and work to this day: Born and raised in the Croatian coastal city of Dubrovnik, she remembers an “incredibly comfortable, happy and easy life that was almost overnight interrupted by war.” At the […]
It wasn’t so long ago that Hadja Lahbib and Ursula von der Leyen were arguing about the right course. Lahbib, the Belgian Foreign Minister, stood up for the Palestinians in Gaza and lashed out against Israel. In contrast, Commission President von der Leyen always emphasized Israel’s right to self-defense. The dispute overshadowed the Belgian EU […]
Alexander Hirschle’s working life began in an economic area that is still the subject of debate in European politics today: Mercosur. After writing his thesis for his economics degree at the University of Heidelberg on the economic association – with which the EU was already aiming for a free trade agreement at the time – […]
Michiel Scheffer has spent his entire life at the interface between science, politics and business. The Dutchman was born into a family of entrepreneurs – his father and grandfather were CEOs. “I was always running around among the machines as a child”, says Scheffer in an interview. He soon became interested in how business works, […]
On the morning of Aug. 14, Costas Kadis received a phone call and was given a day to think it over. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoloudis asked him to go to Brussels as EU Commissioner. The option came as a surprise to 57-year-old Kadis. After leaving his post as Minister of Agriculture and Environment in February […]
Lea Sahay has just finished a reading tour in Germany. “The End of the Chinese Dream” is the title of the new book by the long-time China correspondent for the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. In it, she describes the country’s current crises as well as her own experiences in China, first and foremost a dramatic […]
Jozef Síkela (57), currently Czech Minister for Industry and Trade, had been considered for all possible portfolios in the new EU Commission: migration, energy, and most recently trade. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala had expressed his desire for a “strong economic portfolio” for his country. He was counting on Brussels to remember how skillfully Síkela […]
Officially, the Irish have taken it sportingly. The government in Dublin had actually sought an economic or financial portfolio in the European Commission for Michael McGrath. As a former finance minister, Michael McGrath seemed to be a suitable candidate with his experience and expertise in economic matters. Accordingly, the Irish government lobbied for such a […]
Deng Hongbo has been China’s highest representative in Berlin since September. In his inaugural speech, the 59-year-old said he was proud to be sent to Germany as ambassador by President Xi Jinping at such an important time. And indeed, the fact that Deng, of all people, is taking over from Wu Ken, who held the […]