THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION REPORT. Europe in a period of transition

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 128 has been a strategic consultant for various international companies and Policy Director for the European network of culture. Domènec Ruiz Devesa holds degrees in Law and Economics from Carlos III University, and in Political Sci- ence and Sociology from UNED. He has a Master’s in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University, specializing in European Studies, and a Diploma in Ad- vanced Studies and Economic Growth and Sustainable Development from UNED. He has advised a number of international organizations, including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Union for the Mediterranean, has worked with international consultancies such as Oxford Policy Management and Family Health International, and thinktanks including Fundación Alternativas, where he is a member of its international economics panel and its European affairs board, and Fundación Sistema, where he is a member of the editorial board of the journal Temas para el Debate . He has been an advisor to the Ministry of the Presidency (2011), advisor to the Spanish Socialist Delegation in the European Parliament (2014–2018) and assistant direc- tor for Political and Parliamentary Affairs in the office of Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation. He is currently a member of the Federal Committee of the Union of European Federalists and of the Executive Commission of the Spanish Federal Coun- cil of the European Movement. In 2019 he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament, where he is spokesperson for the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and full member of the Committee on Culture and Edu- cation. His activities as a parliamentarian also include the membership of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, and he is vice-president of the Iraq delegation, and a member of the Mashreq and Palestine delegations. Luise Rürup has worked with the Friedrich-Ebert- Stiftung (FES) since the early nineties. In September 2020, she was posted to Madrid as the representative of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Spain. Prior to her cur- rent post in Madrid, Luise Rürup served five years as the executive director of the FES liaison office to the United Nations/International Monetary Fund/World Bank in New York (USA). She held various assignments with FES, including head of department at HQ in Berlin (Ger- many), country representative and executive director, in Santiago de Chile, New Delhi (India), Erfurt/Thüringen (Germany) and Istanbul (Turkey). After studying political sciences, regional studies, philosophy and geography at the Free University of Berlin, Universitá di Urbino (Ita- ly) and University of Hamburg, Luise Rürup graduated in political sciences with a diploma from the University of Hamburg. She complemented her education with a one-year vocational graduate programme at the Centre for Advanced Training in Rural Development / Interna- tionale Cooperation in Sustainable Development (SLE / Humboldt University) in Berlin. Prior to her engagement with FES, Luise Rürup was involved in multidisciplinary research and consultancy in rural areas of Costa Rica and Tanzania. Luise Rürup is longstanding member of the German multi service union Ver.di and the German socialdemocratic party SPD.