Iliana Balabanova
President
Varna
Biography
Iliana Balabanova has more than 25 years of work with strong expertise in the areas of gender equality, gender mainstreaming, women in decision making process, prevention and protection against violence against women and girls, women and media, women and climate changes, gender equality mechanism and standards. Over the years she has been engaged in a variety of activities and in different positions from research to project manager and coordinator in the area of Women's Human Rights and Gender Equality at national and international level.
She is co-founder and President of the Bulgarian Platform - European Women's Lobby, Member of the Experts' Forum of the EIGE, representing civil society organisations at Union level, from 16 June 2022 to 30 November 2024. Since 2023 Iliana Balabanova serves as a President of the European Women's Lobby (EWL), the largest European umbrella network of women's associations in Europe.
Organisation
European Women's Lobby
Speaker session
Session 8 : European dimension of elections
- Closed session
- Closed session
TOPIC: European elections continue to be dominated by debates over national issues. Voters are not always clearly aware to which EU party a national political party is affiliated. Different measures are implemented to reinforce the European dimension of EU elections, including measures to reinforce the voting rights of EU mobile citizens. Exchanges will address elements fostering the European dimension of the elections including in the context of electoral processes and explore measures bringing EU citizens closer to EU decision-makers, contributing to an engaged citizenship.
SPEAKERS:
- Gabriele Bischoff, Member of the European Parliament
- Maarten Vink, Chair in Citizenship Studies at the European University Institute (EUI)
- Assya Kavrakova, Executive Director at the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)
MODERATOR: Enrico Forti, Director for Interinstitutional Relations at the Secretariat-General of the European Commission
Interventions by Members of the European Cooperation Network on Elections
Gabriele Bischoff
Member of the European Parliament
Biography
In May 2019, Gabriele Bischoff was elected as Member of the European Parliament and in December 2021 as Vice-President of the Socialist and Democrats Group (S&D). She serves as Vice-Chair of the Committee for Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) and as full member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL). She commits her parliamentary work to core social-democratic topics including a fair and functioning European labor market, decent minimum wages and more democracy at the workplace. In her role as AFCO Vice-Chair she is dedicated to improve the capacity of the European Union to act and to ensure a broad participation of citizens. Gabriele Bischoff started her career as a researcher at the Berlin Institute for Social Research and the FHW Berlin School of Economics. In 1990, she started to work for the German Metal Workers Union (IGM) as a Senior Advisor and subsequently as head of the department for equality. In 2000, she worked at the Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU as Social Attaché in Brussels. After that, she took up the position as a Senior Advisor for the EU Presidency in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Germany. Between 2008 and 2014, she was Head of the European Policy Department at the Federal Executive of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). She served as President of the Workers' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee from 2015 until 2019. She is Vice-President of the German federalist organization "Europa-Union" in Germany, a member of the European Academy Berlin e.V., a member of the assembly of curators of the Institute for European Politics (IEP), a board member of the SPDqueer Berlin and a member of the SPD, IG Metall and ADFC. Gabriele Bischoff studied Political Science at the Universities of Marburg and Berlin and holds a diploma in political science from the Free University of Berlin.
Organisation
European Parliament
Speaker session
Session 8 : European dimension of elections
- Closed session
- Closed session
TOPIC: European elections continue to be dominated by debates over national issues. Voters are not always clearly aware to which EU party a national political party is affiliated. Different measures are implemented to reinforce the European dimension of EU elections, including measures to reinforce the voting rights of EU mobile citizens. Exchanges will address elements fostering the European dimension of the elections including in the context of electoral processes and explore measures bringing EU citizens closer to EU decision-makers, contributing to an engaged citizenship.
SPEAKERS:
- Gabriele Bischoff, Member of the European Parliament
- Maarten Vink, Chair in Citizenship Studies at the European University Institute (EUI)
- Assya Kavrakova, Executive Director at the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)
MODERATOR: Enrico Forti, Director for Interinstitutional Relations at the Secretariat-General of the European Commission
Interventions by Members of the European Cooperation Network on Elections
Kalina Bontcheva
Professor of Text Analytics
Sheffield
Biography
Organisation
University of Sheffield
Speaker session
Session 8 : European dimension of elections
- Closed session
- Closed session
TOPIC: European elections continue to be dominated by debates over national issues. Voters are not always clearly aware to which EU party a national political party is affiliated. Different measures are implemented to reinforce the European dimension of EU elections, including measures to reinforce the voting rights of EU mobile citizens. Exchanges will address elements fostering the European dimension of the elections including in the context of electoral processes and explore measures bringing EU citizens closer to EU decision-makers, contributing to an engaged citizenship.
SPEAKERS:
- Gabriele Bischoff, Member of the European Parliament
- Maarten Vink, Chair in Citizenship Studies at the European University Institute (EUI)
- Assya Kavrakova, Executive Director at the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)
MODERATOR: Enrico Forti, Director for Interinstitutional Relations at the Secretariat-General of the European Commission
Interventions by Members of the European Cooperation Network on Elections