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The European Commission has called for a green, digital and fair recovery, and p[published the Recovery Plan on the 27th May, only a few days before this Forum Europe debate took place.
The session reflected on the EU’s announcements and looked at the environmental opportunities that have arisen as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Is there an opportunity to re-orientate the economy towards substantially more sustainable practices and what would this look like? What will be the approach vis a vis state aid rules and how will areas such as agriculture, the circular economy and digitalisation all inform Europe’s green recovery?
Event attendees had the opportunity to share their thoughts on some of the content shared at the online discussion. Here, you can see the results of each poll taken on the event platform:
Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General, DG Environment, European Commission Bio will appear here shortly
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, MEP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri is a second term Member of the European Parliament and belongs to the Parliament’s social democratic group (S&D). She is the vice-chair of the Parliament’s US Delegation and member in the industry (ITRE), trade (INTA) and constitutional affairs (AFCO) committees. Mrs Kumpula-Natri has focused on digital and energy issues in particular and has earned the nickname “Madame Roaming” for having led the Parliament’s efforts in pushing down consumers’ costs of using their cellular phones abroad. She is the co-chair of the Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development. Miapetra has acted as a shadow rapporteur on multiple energy files, most recently on the own-initiative report on maximising the energy efficiency potential of the EU building stock.
Prior to her election to the European Parliament, Mrs Kumpula-Natri was a member of the Finnish Parliament for 11 years and acted as the chairperson of the Parliament’s Grand Committee (EU affairs). Mrs Kumpula-Natri is an engineer by education.
Terhi Lehtonen, State Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Finland Terhi Lehtonen joined the Ministry of the Environment as State Secretary 4 July 2019 from European Commission Directorate General for Climate Action. Before DG CLIMA she advised the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament on environmental and climate policy for 14 years. From 2001-2003 she worked as the head of office for MEP Heidi Hautala in Brussels and Strasbourg. Ms Lehtonen set up the European Office of City of Turku – Southwest Finland in Brussels in 1998 and represented the region towards the EU institutions until 2001. She also worked for the Finnish Embassy in Brussels as a trainee in 1997 and as an attachée during the 1999 EU Presidency.
Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve, Co-President, Club of Rome Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve has 30+ years of European and international policy, business leadership and strategy experience with a particular focus on EU and international climate change, sustainable development, green growth, conventional and sustainable energy solutions and sustainable finance.
She is currently the Co-President of the Club of Rome and divides her time between lecturing, facilitating difficult conversations and advisory work. She holds several advisory positions for the European Commission: Chair, Expert Group on Economic and Societal Impact of Research & Innovation (ESIR); Member, Assembly on Research & Innovation (DGR&I); TEG Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, Chair, Manufacturing & Outreach (DGFISMA). She sits on several Advisory Boards for Climate KIC, the European Aluminium and the IEEP and is a Senior Associate and faculty member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and a Senior Associate for E3G. In addition, she is an Ambassador, for the Energy Transition Commission (ETC) and a Senior Advisor to Interel and Xynteo. In 2017 Sandrine co-founded the Women Enablers Change Agent Network (WECAN).
Abraham Liu, Chief Representative to the EU Institutions and Vice-President European Region, Huawei Abraham Liu was appointed Vice-President for the European Region at Huawei in July 2018. At the same time, he is the Chief Representative of the company to the EU Institutions in Brussels. Abraham joined the Brussels Public Affairs and Communication team as Vice-President earlier this year and was appointed in May 2018 as the Chief Representative to the EU Institutions.
Mr Liu is no newcomer to Huawei, having joined the company in 2001 as a Wireless Product Manager. Over the years, he has worked in different roles across the globe, including as Country Manager of DR Congo, Vice-President of Huawei’s regional office in East Southern Africa, and Vice-President of Huawei’s Southern Pacific Region. Before moving to Brussels, he served as CEO of Huawei Malaysia. Mr Liu graduated from Central South University of China in 2001 after earning a Bachelor degree in Computer Science and Technology. He is married and a father of two.
Eric-Mark Huitema, Director General, ACEA Eric-Mark Huitema is the Director General of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), a position he has held since October 2019.
Prior to his ACEA appointment, Mr Huitema acted as Global Smarter Transportation Leader at IBM, where he focussed on optimised transport solutions for governments and smart cities, as well as the private sector. In this capacity, he was member of the Corporate Partnership Board of the International Transport Forum (ITF), the board of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) and the supervisory board of ERTICO (ITS Europe).
Before joining IBM, Mr Huitema worked in the IT sector, including for Liberty Global’s broadband internet start-up Chello Benelux (which he co-founded and led as Global Vice President), EDS International and Philips Electronics.
A Dutch national, Eric-Mark Huitema studied technical chemistry at Delft University of Technology and business and sales administration at INSEAD.
Arthur ten Wolde, Executive Director, Ecopreneur.eu Arthur ten Wolde is the executive director and circular economy expert of Ecopreneur.eu. Based in the Netherlands, he is also the EU Policy expert for MVO Nederland and a part-time CIRCO Trainer. Arthur is internationally recognised as a circular economy expert, motivational speaker and (co-)author of several reports and numerous articles in magazines such as Euractive. Before, he worked as circular economy policy expert for De Groene Zaak, on sustainability and innovation for a Dutch think tank, where he became coordinator circular economy and advised AkzoNobel, and on innovation policy for the Confederation of Netherlands Industries and Employers VNO-NCW.
Els Bruggeman, Head of Policy and Enforcement, Euroconsumers Els Bruggeman is Head Advocacy and Enforcement at Euroconsumers, a consumer cluster gathering five national consumer organisations: Test Achats (Belgium), Altroconsumo (Italy), OCU (Spain), Deco Proteste (Porugal) and Proteste (Brazil). Together they represent almost one and a half million consumers. Els is responsible for the coordination of all policy related issues and the enforcement cases, e.g. the class actions against Volkswagen (Dieselgate) and Facebook.
Els joined the consumer movement in 2014 when she started working as EU Public Affairs advisor for the Belgian consumer organisation Test Achats/Test Aankoop. Before she was active for more than 10 years in the political world, both as policy advisor and spokesperson a.o. for the Belgian minister of consumer protection.
Els Bruggeman has master degrees in both History and Law, and advanced masters in International Politics and Conflict & Development Studies. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue and also represents Test Achats at the Executive Board of BEUC (European consumer organisation).
Ralph Brieskorn, Team Leader EU Climate Policy, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Netherlands Ralph Brieskorn is currently Team Leader EU Climate Policy in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy in the Netherlands. In this respect he and his team are directly involved with all aspects of the Green Deal and coordinating the Dutch government position. He has worked in the several ministries in the Netherlands dealing with issues on climate, energy, circular economy, biodiversity and mobility and in particular on improving the sustainability of global, EU and national policies
He worked for a couple of years at the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands at the EU. His work experience ranges from national, EU as well as global sustainability issues (Central and Eastern Europe beginning 90ties, Permanent Representation The Netherlands at the EU mid/end 90ties, WTO trade and environment around 2000, Commission on Sustainable Development 2003 – 2005, security of chemical plants and products 2005 – 2008, sustainability of biomass and biofuels, 2009 – 20013, national and EU climate policy 2013 till now and head of delegation to the Montreal Protocol, 2017 till now).
Abraham Liu, Chief Representative to the EU Institutions and Vice-President European Region, Huawei Abraham Liu was appointed Vice-President for the European Region at Huawei in July 2018. At the same time, he is the Chief Representative of the company to the EU Institutions in Brussels. Abraham joined the Brussels Public Affairs and Communication team as Vice-President earlier this year and was appointed in May 2018 as the Chief Representative to the EU Institutions.
Mr Liu is no newcomer to Huawei, having joined the company in 2001 as a Wireless Product Manager. Over the years, he has worked in different roles across the globe, including as Country Manager of DR Congo, Vice-President of Huawei’s regional office in East Southern Africa, and Vice-President of Huawei’s Southern Pacific Region. Before moving to Brussels, he served as CEO of Huawei Malaysia. Mr Liu graduated from Central South University of China in 2001 after earning a Bachelor degree in Computer Science and Technology. He is married and a father of two.
Paul Adamson, Chairman, Forum Europe Paul Adamson is chairman of Forum Europe and founder and editor of Encompass, an online magazine dedicated to covering the European Union and Europe’s place in the world.
Paul is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe’s Council of Advisors. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London, a patron of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.
In 2012, Paul was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to promoting understanding of the European Union” and in 2016 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite by the French government.
Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General, DG Environment, European Commission
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, MEP
Terhi Lehtonen, State Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Finland
Abraham Liu, Chief Representative to the EU Institutions and Vice-President
European Region, Huawei
Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, Co-President, Club of Rome
Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General, DG Environment, European Commission
Terhi Lehtonen, State Secretary for Environment, Finland
Abraham Liu, Chief Representative to the EU Institutions and Vice-President European Region, Huawei
Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, Co-President, Club of Rome
An interactive discussion and networking session – audience members will have the chance to take the floor and give their thoughts on the discussions that have taken place in the previous panel.
Eric-Mark Huitema, Director General, ACEA
Arthur ten Wolde, Executive Director, Ecopreneur.eu
Els Bruggeman, Head of Policy and Enforcement, Euroconsumers
Ralph Brieskorn, Team Lead on European Affairs, Ministry of Economic Affairs &
Climate Change, Netherlands
Catch up on past sessions below:
Exclusive speaking positions
Your organisation can contribute to the discussion on the ‘main stage’
Engaging and Interactive format
Engage in a fully immersive and interactive debate with decision makers, businesses and policymakers
European and global outreach
Convey your message to a broad and international audience
Networking opportunities
The event will feature a virtual networking reception for all interested participants. Private meeting rooms can also be booked.
Visibility Opportunities
Ensure maximum visibility through branding on the event website and marketing activities
Exhibition and demos area
Showcase your products and solutions or share a position paper with the audience via a digital exhibition booth in the expo area
Forum Europe are proud to present ‘Under the Spotlight…’ – a strategic series of virtual EU policy events focussing on a range of key policy files and topics across different subject areas.
Working alongside thought-leaders and policymakers, each event will put a specific area ‘under the spotlight’ – providing a platform for a detailed discussion on the policy issues involved. By bringing together key stakeholders in this way, the aim of the series is to support transparency and inclusion in the policymaking process in a format that is accessible to all.
If you have an issue that you would like to see explored as part of the Under the Spotlight series contact James Wilmott at | + 44 (0) 29 20 783020.
This series of events will be taking place using Forum Europe’s virtual solution – Forum Vision. For more details on our virtual solution, please visit forum-vision.com.
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