Dr. Artis Pabriks (@pabriks) served as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia (2019 to 2022) and he has held a variety of cabinet positions, including as Minister of Defence (2019 to 2022, and 2010 to 2014) and Foreign Affairs (2004 to 2007). He is the founder and Director of a new think tank - the Northern European Policy Centre – and, since 2001, he has been an associate professor at the Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration. He was first elected as a Member of the Latvian Parliament in 2004, and he was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2018. Dr. Pabriks has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and his main research interests are in multiculturalism, nationalism, security policy, ethnic policy, ideologies, gender issues, and human rights. He speaks Latvian, Russian, and English as well as some German and Danish.
Jonas Survila currently is the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. Previously he served as Political Adviser to the Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė, was Head of the Office and an Adviser to Member of European Parliament Gabrielius Landsbergis, who currently is Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. In 2008-2012 Jonas Survila served as Political Adviser to the Prime Minister of Lithuania Andrius Kubilius. He is also Vice-Chairman of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats party.
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (@IIvesToomas@CEPA) is a Distinguished Nonresident Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis and a former president of Estonia (2006-2016). Before assuming the office of the presidency Ilves served as vice-president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (2004-2006), foreign minister of Estonia (1996-2002), where he led Estonia’s EU and NATO accession process. From 1993-96 he served as Estonia’s first post-independence ambassador to Washington. From 1988 to 1993 Ilves was director of the Estonian Service at RFE/RL and prior to that a research analyst in the Research Department of RFE/RL.
Leon Hartwell (@LeonHartwell) is the Senior Advisor at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ IDEAS and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington DC. His research interests include conflict resolution, genocide, transitional justice, diplomacy, democracy, and the Western Balkans. Previously, Hartwell was the 2022 Sotirov Fellow at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ IDEAS and CEPA’s Acting Director of the Transatlantic Leadership Program and a Title VIII Fellow. From 2012 to 2013, he was also the Senior Policy Advisor for Political and Development Cooperation at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Zimbabwe, where his work included government and civil society engagement, political reporting, peace building projects, and supporting human rights defenders. In 2019, Hartwell completed a joint doctoral degree summa cum laude at Leipzig University (Germany) and Stellenbosch University (South Africa). His thesis analyzed the use of mediation in the resolution of armed conflicts.