Speakers

Since 01/08/2018: Deputy Secretary-General in charge of Smart Regulation and Work Programme and Policy Co-ordination I in the Secretariat General (SG). 16/03/2018 – 31/07/2018: Deputy Director-General – Directorate-General "Health and Food Safety" (SANTE). 07/2014 – 15/03/2018: Director "Market and cases I: Energy and Environment" – Directorate-General "Competition" (COMP). 2008 – 2014: Head of Unit "Antitrust – Energy and Environment – DG COMP. 2006 – 2008: Deputy Head of Unit "Antitrust and Merger Case support" DG COMP. 2004 – 2006: Unit "Antitrust and Merger Case support" – Responsible for setting-up the network of national competition authorities. – DG COMP. 1998 – 2004: Unit "Legislation and relation with the Member States" – Member of the team responsible for the review of Antitrust rules. – DG COMP. 1995 – 1998: Unit "Steel, construction, glass and non-ferrous metals" – Case-handler – DG COMP. 1994 – 1995: Unit "Product and services security" – Directorate-General "Consumer Protection"  

Emily O’Reilly was first elected as the European Ombudsman in July 2013. Following the European Parliament elections, she was re-elected for a five year mandate in December 2014. As the European Ombudsman she investigates maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union. She was awarded Schwarzkopf Europe Award in 2017 in recognition of her work. From 2003 until 2013, Ms O’Reilly was the first female Ombudsman and Information Commissioner in Ireland and was additionally appointed Commissioner for Environmental Information in 2007. As national Ombudsman Ms O’Reilly was conferred in 2008 with an Honorary Doctorate in Law by the National University in Ireland for her work in promoting human rights throughout her career. In 2014 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University College Dublin for her decade long commitment as Irish Ombudsman.  

 

 Member, Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), European Parliament

 

 

Chair of Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External affairs (CIVEX), Committee of the Regions

 

Ms. Duden has been a member of the Hamburg Parliament since 1991, and since 2015 she has been directly elected constituency member for the Wandsbek constituency. Since 2004, Barbara Duden has served as Vice-President of the Bureau of the Hamburg Parliament. In the SPD parliamentary group, she holds the office of educational spokeswoman. She has been a member of the Committee of the Regions since 2011.  

 

 

 

Deputy Auditor General Marko Männikkö leads the Performance Audit and Fiscal Policy Audit department at the National Audit Office of Finland (NAOF). Before his various management positions at NAOF, Mr Männikkö worked as an authorised Auditor for over a decade. Mr Männikkö has extensive knowledge on both the public and private sectors and has also worked at the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in Luxembourg. Mr Männikkö holds Masters degrees in Economic Sciences and Law.

 

 

 

Cecilia Wikström currently serves as Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs in the European Parliament, the highest post to date for a Swedish MEP since Sweden joined the EU in 1995. Cecilia Wikström has written several books, including När livet går sönder (When life falls apart), a publication awarded book of the year in its genre in 2004. In 2002, Cecilia Wikström was elected to the Swedish Parliament. She was re-elected in 2006, representing the Liberal party, Liberalerna. Since 2009, Cecilia Wikström is a Member of the European Parliament for Liberalerna in the ALDE Group. She is currently serving as the Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs, the Chair of the Committee on Petitions and a Member of the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

 

Since he first joined the Commission in 1986, Daniel Calleja has worked in several different areas which accounts for his broad expertise and experience. Prior to being appointed Director General for DG Environment on 1st September 2015, he was Director General of DG GROWTH. From February 2011 to January 2012, he was Deputy Director General of DG ENTR, and Special Envoy for SMEs. From 1993 to 2004, Mr. Calleja worked in the cabinets of several Commissioners, including the President of the European Commission, advising on Transport and Competition matters, State Aids and the application of Community Law. Between 1999 and 2004 he was Head of Cabinet for both Commissioner Oreja and Vice-president Mrs. Loyola de Palacio, in charge of Transport and Energy where he contributed decisively to the development of some key files. Daniel Calleja started his career in the Commission as Member of the Legal Service between 1986 and 1993. During that period, his background being Law and Business Administration, he represented the institution in numerous cases before the European Court of Justice.

 

Born 1974; graduated in law from Charles University, Prague (1997), and Master of Laws from the University of Stockholm (2000); Doctor of Laws (2007); Lecturer in EU law at Charles University, Prague (2001-03), and at the Judicial Academy of the Czech Republic (2001-16); Trainee Judge at Prague City Court (1997-2001); Judge at the Prague 2 District Court (2001‑05); Judge at the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (2005-16); Lecturer at the law faculty of Masaryk University, Brno (2006‑16), and Palacký University, Olomouc (2014-16); Legal Adviser at the Ministry of Justice (2010-16); Judge at the General Court since 19 September 2016.

 

 

 

 

Philip Bittner is a Legal Adviser at the Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU, since August 2015. Between 2009 and 2015, he was a senior legal expert for international economic and environmental law in the Office of the Legal Adviser in the Foreign Ministry. He worked in the Austrian Embassy in Prague, between 2007 and 2009. From 2003 until 2007, he worked in the Department for international law, Office of the Legal Adviser in the Foreign Ministry, and was an Attaché at the Permanent Mission of Austria to the UN, New York, in 2004/05. He studied at the Universities of Innsbruck, Vienna and Paris XII (law, philosophy, history).

 

 

 

 

Bernd Ditmann, born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1952 is a registered lawyer and former Director of BDI/BDA - the German Business Representation - in Brussels. From 1984 to 1988, he spent 4 years in New Delhi, India, representing the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce as Regional Director before joining the Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e.V. (Federation of German Industries) in 1988 as member of the Foreign Trade Policy Department. From 1991 to 1997, he was Director and Head of the Environmental Department of the Federation of German Industries. From 1998 to 2007, he became Director and Head of Representation of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) to the EU in Brussels and from February 2007 to February 2018 he was Managing Director of BDI/BDA in Brussels. Since 2008, he is member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Mr Dittmann is currently a member of the EESC Bureau and Vice President of the Internal Market Committee (INT) and an EESC representative to the European Commission REFIT Platform Stakeholder Group.

Gerda Falkner is the Director of the Institute for European Integration Research, and a professor of political science, at the University of Vienna. Her publication list covers a range of topics within European Integration Studies and includes publishers such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and the leading international journals in the field.