European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

A Czech politician, who serves in the Czech Chamber of Deputies, Olga Richterová is the Deputy Speaker of the parliament’s lower house and former vice-chair of the Česká pirátská strana (Czech Pirate Party). Throughout her political career, she has been a vocal advocate for freedom of information and progressive social, health, housing and urban planning policies. Richterová sits on parliamentary committees concerning social health borders, consumer protection, freedom of speech and the media, foreign relations and military intelligence. Previously, she previously represented Prague’s tenth district as a member of the municipal council and founded a civic watchdog association, Zaostřeno na Desítku (Focused on District Nr. 10), to provide the district’s residents with objective information and increase citizen engagement. In addition to her political pursuits, she has published a collection of poems, “Napříč kůrou” (“Through the crust”).

Liesje Schreinemacher is the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in the Netherlands. She supports development cooperation to assist regions that face poverty, climate change, terrorism and migration challenges. Notably, Schreinemacher has fostered a new partnership with UNICEF to ease the food and nutrition crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. She currently represents the Netherlands at several regional development banks and international financial institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee. While serving as a member of the European Parliament, she was the vice-president of the LGBTI Intergroup and supported the proposal for common charging ports as a shadow rapporteur. A lawyer who specialises in construction and contract law, she has also served as an advisor at the Dutch Ministry of Defence and worked as an assistant to two members of the Dutch parliament.

Monica is a Luxembourgish TV presenter and politician, and was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2019. Having worked as a journalist and TV presenter for over two decades, Monica is well-known amongst Luxembourg’s public. Having won a seat in the European Parliament for Luxembourg’s Democratic Party and serving as a full member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Monica has expressed her intent to prioritise equal opportunities for children and young people in particular as well as an equal platform for entrepreneurs. Monica has been actively engaged in charity work, including for cancer research and as a former ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages and Fairtrade.

Michal Šimečka is the Vice-President of the National Council of Slovakia and Chair of Progressive Slovakia, a pro-European national political party. Prior to this, he was the first Slovak politician to serve as a vice-president of the European Parliament. The highest-ranked Slovak in the Parliament’s history, Šimečka was responsible for democracy and human rights. He is a former vice-president of Renew Europe and was the rapporteur for a key proposal to introduce a new mechanism for the protection of democracy, the rule of law and European values in member states. A champion of a free, secure and democratic Europe, Šimečka is a Founding Member and Chair of Progressive Slovakia, a pro-European party in Slovakia. Previously, he worked as a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague, studying European integration and security, and served as an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Šimečka began his professional career as a journalist for SME, a Slovak newspaper, and then the Financial Times.

Hanke is currently serving as the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Dutch government. She is a former military officer, former vice-governor at the Province of Utrecht. As a member of the Dutch parliament, Hanke served as the Christian Democratic Appeal party’s spokesperson on health and defence issues, while also focusing on local government, medical law, psychiatry and sports. Prior to her career in politics, Hanke attended the Dutch Royal Military Academy (KMA), where she undertook officer training and specialised as an artillery commander. She went on to serve in Afghanistan as a tank platoon commander, where she was promoted to acting field officer, assisting the Director of Operations of the Land Forces Command Staff. She has also worked in the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations as a senior policy officer and is avid hockey player, who won the Rabobank Premier Division national indoor hockey championship in 2005.

Jens is the Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. He was formally the Federal Minister of Health in the Cabinet of Angela Merkel. He has been a member of the Bundestag since 2002, with responsibility for health policies, and a Member of the CDU/CSU Youth Group. He has gathered his experience in government during his time as the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance, a post he has held since July 2015. He holds a degree in Banking and Political Science from the University of Hagen, and previously worked as a banker in his hometown of Munster. Jens is a founding member of the ‘Young Member of Parliament’ cross-party group that promotes integration and equality in politics and society.

Tamara served as the minister for public administration, digital society and media in Montenegro, in which role she advocated for public administration reform, digital transformation and the development of e-government services. Prior to this, Tamara was integral to the launch of the Government of California’s Digital Innovation Office, established to improve the state’s digital services. In this capacity, she led the COVID-19 digital response, the Policy Design Lab and the Inclusive by Design initiative. She is also the Co-Founder and former deputy director of the Office of Innovation at the California Health and Human Services Agency, where she was responsible for driving innovation to provide critical healthcare and social services. She has been involved with a number of organisations and programmes, including Alchemist, CivicMakers, Code for America, New America and most recently, Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA), where she provides support for public administration reform in the Western Balkans.

Natalija Stojmenović is a member of the Serbian Parliament representing the opposition Green-Left Front. She was previously a Belgrade city councillor and coordinator with the Don’t Let Belgrade Drown (Ne Davimo Beograd) movement, which was founded in 2014 to promote citizens’ engagement to promote reform, transparency and environment protection. Stojmenović’s election in 2023 came amid a surge of support for a proEuropean, anti-corruption coalition standing in opposition to the populist government which has ruled Serbia for over a decade. She supports grassroots politics to counter the power of vested interests and has worked in Parliament to promote women’s rights, affordable housing and improved public services.

Michał Szczerba currently serves as member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee.  He also holds the position of President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. An experienced Polish politician, Szczerba served as an elected member of the Polish Sejm for several legislatures since 2007. Prior to this, he worked as an expert on EU funding for restructuring and modernising agriculture and was on the Wola District Council of Warsaw. Szczerba notably received the Order of Honour from the President of the Republic of Georgia, and has been part of numerous leadership training programmes.

Irene Tinagli currently chairs the European Parliament’s new Special Committee on Housing, tasked with mapping housing needs, analysing existing policies across the EU and collaborating with member states, cities and regions to develop solutions. An economist by training, she previously served as Chair of the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee during her last mandate. Before coming to Brussels, Tinagli was a member of the Italian Parliament, where she completed a five-year mandate focused primarily on economic and labour policies. She also taught Management and Organisation Design at Carlos III University in Madrid. Before entering politics, Tinagli worked as a consultant for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the European Commission and several regional and national European governments on innovation and economic development. She has been a columnist for the Italian newspaper La Stampa and is a published author.

Oana Țoiu is a Romanian social entrepreneur-turned-politician who currently serves as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of USR (Renew Europe), one of the country’s ruling coalition parties. She previously held leadership roles in the Chamber of Deputies as Vice-President and Chair of the Labour and Social Protection Committee, where she championed legislation to improve flexible work schemes, expand housing rights for victims of domestic violence, and strengthen protections for single-parent doctors. Before entering politics, Oana built a career in social innovation, including as an executive at Mesteshukar ButiQ, a network of Roma artisans and international designers, and as co-founder of Social Innovation Solutions, which empowers entrepreneurs, NGOs, youth and policymakers to address future challenges. She remains committed to advancing inclusive policies that bridge governance, business and civil society.

Currently serving as the State Secretary at the Polish Ministry of National Defence, Cezary Tomczyk’s political career spans more than two decades. He previously held the position of secretary of state and spokesperson in the government of Eva Kopacz and was also nominated as shadow deputy minister for the Civic Platform. After being elected as member of the Polish Parliament at the age of 23, Tomczyk sat in the Committee on National Defence and the Committee on EU Affairs, in addition to chairing the Permanent Subcommittee on the Multiannual Financial Framework. He was notably awarded the Medal of Merit for National Defence by the Polish Ministry of National Defense in recognition for his services to the development and strengthening of the defence of his country.

Małgorzata is one of the first members of the Green Party to be elected to the Polish parliament. In her role as Co-Chair of the Green Party, she has successfully promoted a stronger climate agenda, most notably through her actions for cleaner air and the reduction of smog in Polish cities, as well as raising citizen awareness about environmental issues. A strong advocate of equality, democracy and the rule of law, Małgorzata is a vocal activist for the rights of women and minorities. She is a member of the women’s rights movement, Committee Ratujmy Kobiety (“Let’s save women”), which led the first against the national abortion ban from 2016 through 2018. She is also a member of the Polish Women’s Congress and Ecological Association EKO-UNIA.

Vlad Voiculescu is a member of the European Parliament, health policy expert and patient advocate, who until recently has served as the Romanian minister of health. After pursuing a career in finance, Voiculescu became active in public service, serving as the Romanian Finance Minister’s chief of staff before becoming the minister of health in the Dacian Cioloș government.  He has been involved in patient advocacy, both at the national and European levels for over a decade. Voiculescu is the founder of an international network of volunteers that helped over 2,500 cancer patients receive essential medicines that were missing in Romania, a story that featured in the HBO documentary The Network’. He is also the Co-Founder of MagiCAMP, which seeks to provide support to children diagnosed with cancer and other serious illnesses. For this work, the European Parliament awarded Voiculescu its ‘European Citizen’s Prize.’

Martina is the former Secretary of State for the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. Having long been interested in politics, she began her political career by participating in the Young Democrats Forum towards the end of secondary school. This formative experience led her to pursue and obtain elected office at both the local and national level. At the Slovenia National Assembly, Martina has actively participated in the parliamentary group responsible for the fields of work, family, social affairs, health and human rights. For the past four and a half years, under two Governments, she worked as a state secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. As a Council of Europe-certified human rights trainer, she has worked with various non-governmental organisations to promote human rights and gender equality.