Dr Magdalena Adamowicz (born 1973) received her Bachelors and Master’s degree from the University of Gdansk where she studied law between 1992-1996. In 1999 she graduated from the English and European Law School organized by the Cambridge University and German Law School organized by the Fredrich-Wilchalms-Universität in Bonn of which she is a founder.
In 2003 MEP Adamowicz received a PhD from the Law and Administration Department at the University of Gdansk. In 2004 she became an attorney-at-law. In 2011-2013 Ms Adamowicz did a postgraduate MBA Master of Business Administration course organized by the University of Northampton in WSB in Gdańsk and obtained an MBA degree. In 2018 she graduated from the Barcelona International Summer School In Maritime Law organized by the City Law School, The City University, London and The Abat Oliba CEU University law school in Barcelona.
Since 2003 MEP Adamowicz is a lecturer in the Maritime Law Department at the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Gdansk as well in the Department of Tourism and Recreation at the Academy of Physical Education and Sport in Gdansk. She is also an organizer of Maritime Law Conferences and panellist of many national and international conferences related to the field of maritime law. Magdalena Adamowicz is a member of the Maritime Law Committee at the Polish Academy of Sciences. She focuses on the legal aspects of the maritime insurances. She is also an author of many academic and research papers.
Elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2019 and re-elected in 2024, Dr Adamowicz serves on the Committee on Transport and Tourism, the Committee on Fisheries, the Committee on Legal Affairs, and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. In her work at the European Parliament, she focuses, inter alia, on the decarbonisation of international shipping, investments in alternative fuels in ports, the greening of port activities, offshore wind energy, and maritime spatial planning, particularly in the Baltic Sea.
Themis Christophidou is the Director-General of the European Commission’s Regional and Urban Policy department since September 2023.
Between 2018 and 2023, Themis Christophidou served as Director-General of the European Commission’s Education, Youth, Sport and Culture department. She is a civil engineer with a 39-year professional experience in the public and private sector.
Themis Christophidou has been serving the EU for over 24 years. She has held various posts including as Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, Maria Damanaki and as Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides.
In the first 15 years of her professional career, between 1986 and 2001, she worked in Brussels for local and regional government and earlier, in Greece as supervising engineer for construction projects in public transport infrastructure.
Themis Christophidou is an alumna of the civil engineering faculty of the Metsovio Polytechnic University (NTUA) of Athens, with specialisation in road, rail and port infrastructure.
A Cypriot national, born in Famagusta, she is trilingual, fluent in Greek, English and French.
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A Polish teacher, entrepreneur, and long-time local government activist, she possesses strong subject-matter expertise, valuable personal predispositions, and extensive experience in managing both teams and institutions.
Ms Danilecka-Wojewódzka graduated in Polish philology from the University of Gdańsk and worked for many years as a teacher and high school principal in Słupsk.
She has been actively involved in local government for many years, previously working at the Department of Culture of the Provincial Office and serving as the press spokesperson for the Mayor of Słupsk. Later, she was a City Councilor in Słupsk, where she held roles such as Deputy Chairperson and Chairperson of the Culture and Education Committee. From 2014 to 2018, she served as the Deputy Mayor of Słupsk, overseeing education, culture, sports, social assistance, and housing policy. In 2018, she was elected Mayor of Słupsk, securing re-election in 2024. In 2005, she was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit.
Aleksandra Dulkiewicz was born on July 10, 1979 in Gdańsk. She studied law at the University of Gdańsk and Paris London University in Salzburg (2004–2005). Next year she became assistant to the former Mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz. She was elected to the City Council of Gdańsk twice from the Civic Platform list, was vice-chairman of the Local Government and Public Governance Committee, active in the Revitalization Committee and the Fair Committee (2010, 2014).
In March 2017, the Mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz entrusted her with the position of deputy for economic policy. During the local elections in 2018, she was the head of his electoral staff, supported by "Wszystko dla Gdańska".
After the stabbing incident on January 13, 2019, during the Christmas Charity which took the life of Mayor Paweł Adamowicz, she assumed the duties of the acting president of the City of Gdańsk. In early elections, Dulkiewicz was elected mayor of the city with a staggering majority of 82.22%. She is also the President of the Board of the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area and is a member of the Management Board of the Union of Polish Metropolises Foundation.
On March 11, 2019, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz was sworn in as mayor of the City of Gdańsk. The ceremony was held at the Main Town Hall during the VII session of the City Council. Since 26.01.2020 she is also a Member of the European Committee of the Regions.
On January 23, 2020, the Mayor of Gdansk was appointed one of the CEMR Executive Presidents as a representative of the Association of Polish Cities.
On April 7, 2024 Aleksandra Dulkiewicz (albo she, jeśli wcześniej było nazwisko) was re-elected winning in the first round with a result of 57,95%
Member of Kaunas City Council, Chairperson of Management and Community Development Committee
Birthdate 1987-08-17
Graduated from Šančiai Secondary School.
2007 – 2009 and 2009 – 2013 member of the Board and Chairperson of Kaunas Youth Organizations‘ Union „Round Table“ 2009 – 2014 member and Vice-chairperson of Youth Affairs‘ Council of Kaunas City Municipality
2009 – 2012 member of the Board of Lithuanian Youth Organizations‘ Council
2015 – up to date member of Kaunas City Council, Chairperson of Management of Community Development Committee 2019 – up to date Kaunas City Deputy Mayor
While being a member of Kaunas City Council, he is also a Deputy Director of Centre of Enterprise Practices of Vytautas Magnus University. He is very active in various youth projects and was also awarded by NGOs as the best leader of youth organizations in Lithuania in 2011. In 2013 he was granted the award of the name of P. Vileišis by Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists for his input in developing and strengthening youth organizations, entrepreneurial initiatives for youngsters. He has a background in Marketing Management.
Dr. Gustav Lindström is the Director General of the Permanent International Secretariat of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) since September 2024. He previously served as the Director of the EU Institute for Security Studies. Earlier professional experiences include service at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), RAND Corporation, and World Bank
A doctor of juridical science. A graduate in law and classical philology from the University of Silesia in Katowice. She was awarded a PhD in international law at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Law and Administration (2007).
At the MFA since 2002. She held such posts as Head of the Coordination Unit at the ministry's European Union Department and expert at the Office of the CBSS Commissioner on Democratic Development in Copenhagen (2003). From 2007 to 2011, she worked as first secretary and later as counsellor at the Polish Embassy in Berlin. In 2011-2012, she was Deputy Director of the European Policy Department for Institutional Affairs and Northern Europe. She served as Director of the European Policy Department from August 2012 to April 2013. Undersecretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, European Policy and Human Rights from April 2013 to November 2015 and Poland's Ambassador to Denmark in 2015-2020. She headed the MFA's Bureau of Investments from September 2020 to December 2023.
In 2011-2016, she was a member of the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation's Council. She currently holds this function at the Polish Institute of International Affairs and the European Council on Foreign Relations.
She speaks German, English, and Russian.
Undersecretary of State Henryka Mościcka-Dendys coordinates the European bilateral cooperation in the MFA supervising the European Policy Department. She is responsible for promoting the employment of Poles in the European External Action Service and in international institutions. Undersecretary of State Henryka Mościcka-Dendys oversees consular, legal and treaty affairs, emergency management, and the Bureau for the Polish Presidency of the EU Council. She represents the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the Government Crisis Management Team, handles complaints and petitions, and signs decisions relating to distinctions and consular districts.
André Sobczak works to empower cities in EU decision making through Eurocities, following two terms as Vice-President of the Nantes Metropolitan Area. He is forging new connections with academia, where he has a history of driving social and ecological change, spearheading initiatives on issues like gender equality and precarious employment. He leads with an approach of multi-level cooperation between the public sector, businesses and civil society for tangible positive impact.
Born on November 25, 1980 in Kościerzyna. Vice Mayor of Sopot from 2014 to 2024. On April 7, 2024, he was elected a councilor of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
A lifelong community activist, he served as president of the faculty student government during his studies. He is currently vice-president of the Pomeranian Civic Platform. While still a sociology student, he began collaborating with the Social Research Laboratory at the University of Gdańsk. He gained professional experience in Poland and the United States.
He served as a Gdańsk City Councilor for two terms (2006-2014) and chaired the Local Government and Public Order Committee.
He worked at Sopot City Hall for 17 years, rising through the ranks of his career, from deputy inspector to deputy mayor of Sopot. As vice mayor, he was responsible for city development, EU funding, municipal services, housing, environmental protection, investments, historic preservation, architecture, and urban planning, among other areas. He oversaw the development and implementation of the municipal housing program in Sopot. He was responsible for the innovative SMART CITY project, implemented under the Public-Private Partnership formula, which utilizes modern technologies for energy management in public buildings.
Henrik Johansson has been working as an environmental strategist and project financial coordinator at the City of Växjö, Sweden, for 25 years. He is mainly involved in the development of the Växjö’s ambitious climate work, focusing on being a fossil fuel free city. Through the years, external funding has played an important part of the transition to a sustainable Växjö. Henrik has been deeply involved in applications, implementation and reporting of projects under various EU programmes, such as Life, Interreg, FP6, FP7, Horizon, EU Digital and European Social Funds.
Kieran McCarthy is a City Councillor in the City of Cork, Ireland and is a former Lord Mayor of the City. In January 2015, January 2020 and January 2025 Kieran was appointed by the Irish Minister for the Environment and Local Government for a five year term to be an Irish delegation member on the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). Kieran has been a two term full member and currently is an alternate member. He is a former President of the European Alliance group in the COR
Kieran is a regular contributor to the CoR’s Commission for Cohesion Policy and Territorial Development (COTER). Within COTER, Kieran has championed the role and voice of small cities within the EU, the EU Urban Agenda and its partnerships, the sustainable development goals, interregional co-operation programmes and cross-border co-operation, and the dissemination to EU citizens of the work of the EU’s Cohesion Policy.
Kieran is CoR Rapporteur on the opinion documents, Digitising European Industry, Building a European Data Economy, and the Implementation Assessment of EU Urban Agenda, New European Bauhaus, and Small to Medium Cities and the Just Transition respectively.
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Laura works as an EU and national funds specialist as a part of the Department of External Funding team for the City of Słupsk, Poland, focusing on securing external financing for urban development and innovation projects. As a spatial economy graduate, she is enthusiastic about urbanism and the future of cities, especially how technology and planning shape urban spaces.
Linda Ozola is a Latvian philologist, interpreter, and politician currently serving at the Riga City Council. She previously held the position of Deputy Mayor of the Riga City Council and was a member of the 13th Saeima (Latvian Parliament). With academic degrees in English–Norwegian philology and conference interpreting from the University of Latvia, Ozola brings a strong background in communication and governance. Her political journey began in 2017, and she has since been actively engaged in issues related to public safety, civil protection, anti-corruption, and social concerns. She also advocates for transparent and responsible urban development and is currently a member of the Social Affairs and Finance & Administrative Affairs Committees of Riga.
Marko is a manager, advocacy expert, and moderator with extensive expertise in European policy and capacity building for cities and public authorities. He is the General Manager of OTB Europe and CEO & Founder of Out of the Box International, an international social enterprise based in Brussels. He also serves as Head of the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) Antenna in Brussels, leading advocacy efforts and stakeholder engagement at the EU level. Over the past 15 years, he has designed and implemented more than 100 projects funded by the European Commission and the Council of Europe, supporting municipalities, regional authorities, and civil society in strengthening governance, fostering social innovation, and shaping EU policy agendas. His work focuses on building partnerships, coordinating advocacy campaigns, and translating local and regional priorities into effective European policy dialogue.
Claire joined the team of Energy Cities in 2014 after 10 years acting as Secretary General of Housing Europe, the Federation of social housing providers. Previously she worked on social innovation projects at the European Commission, and was a project manager at European Women's Lobby.
At Energy Cities, she is part of the Overall Coordination team, in charge of EU Policy and Strategic Partnerships.
She graduated in Economics. She completed a post-graduate in European policies in Strasbourg after a year of econometrics in Mainz, Germany. Living in Brussels, she speaks English, Spanish and French with some basics in German.
