The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions companies and projects that achieve the policy aims of the European Union through loans,equity and guarantees.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner is an Austrian diplomat and politician,and a member of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). Ferrero-Waldner served as Foreign Minister of Austria 2000–2004 and was the candidate of the Austrian People's Party in the 2004 Austrian presidential election,which she narrowly lost with 47.6% of the votes. She served as the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy from 2004 to 2009,and as the European Commissioner for Trade and European Neighbourhood Policy from 2009 to 2010.
Günter Verheugen is a German politician who served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004,and then as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vice presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission. After his retirement,he is now honorary Professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).
Michaele Schreyer is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who served as a European Commissioner from September 1999 to November 2004,holding the budget portfolio.
Viviane Adélaïde Reding is a Luxembourgish politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Luxembourg. She is a member of the Christian Social People's Party,part of the European People's Party. She previously served as European Commissioner for Education and Culture from 1999 to 2004,European Commissioner for Information Society and Media from 2004 to 2010 and European Commissioner for Justice,Fundamental Rights and Citizenship from 2010 to 2014.
The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its president was JoséDurão Barroso,who presided over 27 other commissioners. On 16 September 2009 Barroso was re-elected by the European Parliament for a further five years and his Commission was approved to take office on 9 February 2010.
Andris Piebalgs is a Latvian politician and diplomat who served as European Commissioner for Development at the European Commission from 2010 until 2014. Between 2004 and 2009 he served as Commissioner for Energy. Between 4 June 2016 and 19 August 2017,he served as the leader of the Unity party.
Stavros Dimas is a Greek politician who was European Commissioner for the Environment from 2004 to 2009. From November 2011 to May 2012,he served in the government of Greece as Minister for Foreign Affairs. The New Democracy–PASOK coalition government nominated him for the post of President of Greece in December 2014,but he failed to achieve the necessary votes,forcing the dissolution of parliament.
Dan Jannik Jørgensen is a Danish politician of the Social Democrats who has served as Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy in the government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen since 2022.
Margrethe Vestager is a Danish politician currently serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age since December 2019 and European Commissioner for Competition since 2014. Vestager is a member of the Danish Social Liberal Party,and of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE) on the European level.
Günther Hermann Oettinger is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources from 2017 to 2019,as European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society from 2014 to 2016 and as European Commissioner for Energy from 2010 to 2014.
Sustainia,formerly the Copenhagen Climate Council,is a global collaboration between international business and science founded by Erik Rasmussen founder of the leading independent think tank in Scandinavia,Monday Morning,based in Copenhagen,and today directed by Rasmus Schjødt Larsen,a Harvard graduate. The councilors of the Copenhagen Climate Council have come together to create global awareness of the importance of the UN Climate Summit (COP15) in Copenhagen,December 2009,and to ensure technical and public support and assistance to global decision makers when agreeing on a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol from 1997.
Lykke Friis is Prorector for Education at the University of Copenhagen and is a former Danish politician for the party Venstre and former Minister for Climate and Energy and equal rights. Prior to her political career she has once before been Prorector at the University of Copenhagen and held the position from 2006 - 2009. Prior to her appointment as government minister,she was not a member of Venstre.
Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova is a Bulgarian economist serving as the 12th managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2019,and the first person from an emerging market economy to lead the institution. Born in Sofia,her university education was at London School of Economics (LSE),followed by a return to her native Bulgaria where she witnessed some of the economic hardships of the post-Communist transition. She began her career by teaching economics,becoming a prominent figure in the field.
The Commissioner for Climate Action is a post in the European Commission. It was created in 2010,being split from the environmental portfolio to focus on fighting climate change.
The history of the European Union from 2004 to the present is the current timeline of the European Union. It is a period of significant upheaval and reform following the 2004 enlargement of the European Union. The EU has taken on ten new members,eight of which were initially much poorer than the EU average,and took in a further two in 2007 with many more on the way. It created the euro a few years before and had to expand this,and the Schengen Area to its new members. However this was overshadowed by the late-2000s recession and damaging disputes over the European Constitution and its successor,the Treaty of Lisbon. Throughout this period,the European People's Party has been the largest group in the European Parliament and provides every President of the European Commission.
Marcin Korolec is a Polish civil servant and lawyer. He was the minister of environment in Donald Tusk's cabinet from 2011 to 2013 and secretary of state responsible for climate negotiations from 2013 to October 2015. He also served as deputy minister of economy responsible for trade policy in the cabinets of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz,Jarosław Kaczyński and Donald Tusk between 2005 and 2011.
Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra is a Dutch politician. He served as second Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the fourth Rutte cabinet between 10 January 2022 and 1 September 2023. Hoekstra previously served as Minister of Finance in the third Rutte cabinet from 2017 to 2022 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) from 2020 to 2023. In 2023,he was nominated to take on the role of Frans Timmermans as EU Commissioner,being responsible for climate action. On the 22nd of July 2024 it was announced that Hoekstra is nominated for a new term of EU Commissioner on behalf of the Schoof cabinet.
Michael Starbæk Christensen is Danish diplomat and civil servant. He is the current Ambassador of Denmark to France,having previously served as Permanent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at the Prime Minister's Office (2015–2019),under Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
