THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Towards a new legislative term

113 Francisco Aldecoa Luzárraga. Doctor in Political Sci- ence from the Complutense University of Madrid and with a degree in Economics, he has focused on the field of International Relations and European Integration. Professor of International Relations at the University of the Basque Country (1990-2000) and at the Com- plutense University of Madrid (2000-present). He was Vice-Rector and Acting Rector of the University of the Basque Country (1990-1992), Dean of the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the Complutense Uni- versity (2002-2010) and President of the Spanish Asso- ciation of Professors of International Law and Interna- tional Relations (AEPDIRI). He is also holder of the Jean Monnet Chair since 1994. He has been President of the Spanish Federal Council of the European Movement since July 2018, and was previously Vice-President of the same. He was also Secretary General of the Basque Council of the European Movement from 1994 to 2002 and member of the Board of the International European Movement since November 2020. Furthermore, he was Representative of Spanish civil society at the Conference on the Future of Europe (2021-2022) and has been a member of the Federal Committee of the Union of Euro- pean Federalists since 2019. In the last 40 years, he has participated in the publication of dozens of books, the latest being: The European Union. From the utopian idea of Europe to the European Union as a world power (Bar- celona, Shackleton Books 2023). Likewise, in the Fed- eral Council of the European Movement he has edited and collaborated in the last year in the following books: The Congress of Europe (The Hague, 1948); The Birth of the European Union (Madrid, Catarata, 2023); Span- ish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2023. Proposals from the civil society ; (Madrid, Cata- rata, 2023); Una Unión Europea necesitada de reforma. Towards the third European Convention (Madrid, Cata- rata, 2022); La Unión Europea frente a la agresión a Ucrania (Madrid, Catarata, 2022); and El Contubernio de Múnich sesenta años después. Europa, lugar de en- cuentro entre los españoles (Madrid, Catarata, 2022). His decision that has had the greatest impact was, as Dean of the Complutense University, to offer an Degree in International Relations (IR) for the first time in Spain, in 2009. Currently, there are more than 100 IR degrees in Spanish universities, including double degrees. José Candela Castillo. Member of the European Af- fairs Council of Fundación Alternativas. He has been an active European Commission official from 1986 to 2014, as a member of the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the Commission and as head of the Community Law Implementation and Governance Units in the Secretariat General of the Commission. He participated in the group of Commissioners in charge of preparing the drafting of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, chaired by Jacques Delors, and was drafter of the White Paper on European Gov- ernance in 2001 and assistant to the European Commis- sion’s representation at the Convention on the Future of Europe which drew up the draft European Constitution in 2003. He is a full professor of Philosophy of Law, Mor- als and Politics at the Faculty of Law of the Complutense University of Madrid. Carlos Carnero González. Senior advisor at Vinces Consulting. Former Member of the European Parliament (MEP), he participated in the Convention that drafted the European Constitution. He was also Spain’s Ambas- sador for European Integration Projects and vice-presi- dent of the European Socialist Party. At a regional level, has been a member of the Madrid Assembly, president of the Recovery Commission of the Madrid Assembly and member of the Advisory Council for European Af- fairs of Madrid. Moreover, he has been spokesman on Economy of the Socialist Group. He has been manag- ing director of the Fundación Alternativas. Currently, he holds a seat on the Advisory Council of the Real Instituto Elcano and is a lecturer in the Master’s Degree in Euro- pean Union at the CEU San Pablo University. He has co- authored several books on European issues and writes Biographies