About us
History of the Global Progressive Forum
The Global Progressive Forum (GPF) is a common initiative of the Party of European Socialists along with its political group in the European Parliament, and the Socialists International. The GPF sprang up from the success of the first World Social Forum held in January 2001 in Porto Alegre, in Brazil. The Global Progressive Forum aims to bring together a diversity of peoples from Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, India, and Latin America to discuss and propose alternatives to the negative aspects of the current Globalization process which specifically affects Under Developed countries, Third world countries and developing countries.
Following to the first global conference in November 2003 and the second on September 2005 in Milano, the Global Progressive Forum is holding its 2009 Conference in Brussels. This conference gives the opportunity to gather worldwide key international players to elaborate progressive ways of tackling the negative outcomes of globalization while engaging in a new vision of a globalised world from which we can all benefit.
The Co-Chairs
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen - Co-Chair
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is the founder of the Global Progressive Forum as well as its current Chair. Having played a leading role in Danish politics for over a decade, as Prime Minister and leader of the Danish Social Democrat Party, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen was elected President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in April 2004. Member of the Danish Parliament since 1988, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen took over the chairmanship of the Danish Social Democrats and its Parliamentary Group in 1992. In under a year he was elected Prime Minister, a post which he kept until 2001. Since then, Poul Nyrup has concentrated his political engagement at the European level. From 2002 onwards, he has been a leading figure in the development of new policy ideas and initiatives for European social democrats, as chair of the PES High Level Group on Globalisation and Chair of the PES Lisbon Network. Further to his Presidency of the PES, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen was also a Member of the European Parliament until June 2009, having led the Danish Social Democrats to a stunning victory in the 2004 European elections.
Martin Schulz - Co-Chair
Martin Schulz grew up in Würselen, Germany, and first got involved in local politics there in 1974. Following on from a career in the book trade, he became a councillor for the SPD (the German Social Democratic Party) in 1984 and Mayor of Würselen three years later - the youngest mayor in the region´s history. He held the post for over a decade. In 1994 he was elected to the European Parliament, first serving on the sub-committee on Human Rights and then on the Committee on Civil Liberties and Home Affairs. He led the SPD MEPs from 2000 and was subsequently elected Vice-Chair of the Socialist MEPs. In 2004 he was elected Group leader of the European Socialists in the Parliament. After the European elections in 2009 he was re-elected leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament with an over-whelming majority. The S&D group is the second-largest in the European Parliament, with 184 MEPs from all 27 EU member states. Martin Schulz also plays an important role in German national politics, sitting on the executive committee of the SPD since 1999.
The secretariat
Javier Moreno Sanchez – Secretary General
Tel: +32.254.890.80
Fax: +32.223.017.66
Javier Moreno Sanchez, former Member of the European Parliament and Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist delegation in the European Parliament, member of the PSOE since 1992 is currently Secretary General of the European Federation of the PSOE (PSOE Europa).
Javier Moreno, born in Switzerland to Spanish parents now lives in Brussels with his wife and three young children. In addition to his mother tongue which is Spanish he is fluent in several languages, French, German, Italian and English
Prior to his election as a member to the European Parliament in 2004, Javier Moreno had a wide experience within the European Institutions which commenced in 1991. He served as a political advisor to the party of European Socialists (1998-2002) later becoming Deputy Secretary General (2002-2004) during which period he coordinated the work of the Socialist members of the European Convention 2002-2003 led by Giuliano Amato.
Elected for the Spanish list of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament in 2004, Javier Moreno served on the Committees for International Trade and the Committee for Civil Liberties where he concentrated his work on the fight against illegal immigration. He has published various articles on issues of immigration and trade. During his mandate in the European Parliament he was also a member of the delegation for relations with Mercosur and the delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly.
Yonnec Polet – Coordinator
Tel: +32.254.890.81
Fax: +32.223.017.66
Yonnec Polet is a Belgian national with a BA in International Studies and Political Science from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. After working for a year on a social economy project for the reinsertion of unemployed people in Brussels and another year in a Telecommunications SME, Yonnec started working for the Socialist Group in the European Parliament. Afterwards, he was elected twice (1999-2001 and 2001-2003) as Secretary General of ECOSY, the youth organization of the Party of European Socialists. In 2003, he started working as Parliamentary Assistant for Harlem Désir, French Member of the European Parliament. In 2004, he joined the PES and became part of the GPF Team. Yonnec is also very much involved in NGO work in Belgium. He was President of the CNAPD (Coordination National d’Action pour la Paix et la Démocratie), the largest peace and citizens’ rights platform (more than forty organisations) in French-speaking Belgium, 2004-2008. He has been President of Reso-j, the platform of youth organizations of the Parti Socialiste, since 2008. He is also member of the PS National Bureau. Yonnec has taken part in many international events (World Social Forum in Brazil and India, European Social Forum in Paris, London, Athens and Malmö – Delegations to the Middle East, Asia, North America and Africa).
Cecilia Gondard – Administrator
Tel: +32.254.890.91
Fax: +32.223.017.66
Cécilia Gondard is a French national. She holds a BA in European Studies from La Sorbonne and a Masters in European Business from the ESCP-EAP – European school of Management. After having worked for two years in marketing in Paris, Cecilia came to Brussels where she worked for the Party of European socialists as an assistant on financial regulation in the EU Policy Department. Cecilia joined the GPF team in the European parliament as an administrator in November 2009.
David Capezzuto - Administrator
Tel: +32.254.890.83
Fax: +32.223.017.66
David Capezzuto is an Italian and Australian national with a BA in International Studies and Political Science and a Master’s in Diplomacy and Statecraft from the University of Birmingham, UK, and a DEA in Political Science from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. After working in Australia for two years in the media sector as Assistant to the Managing Director, David moved to Brussels and joined the Party of European Socialists as Assistant in the International Department. David worked for a Member of the European Parliament with the position of Head of Office until 2008 before becoming part of the GPF Team as Political Advisor.
Pamela Stewart – Assistant
Tel: +32.254.890.80
Fax: +32.223.017.66
Pamela Stewart, official of the European Parliament since 1989, seconded to the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
Pamela is British of Northern Irish origin and has been living in Brussels for 25 years. She speaks French and Spanish as well as her native English and is currently learning Greek.
Pamela has a very wide experience within the S& D Group (formerly the Group of the PES) where she has been working since 1989. As well as assisting on the work of various committees working groups and delegations, Pamela spent a period of five years seconded to the Party of European Socialists where she assisted in the organisation of meetings of Socialist Ministers in preparation for European Council meetings as well as a period assisting in the preparation of meetings of the Socialist members of the European Convention. Subsequently Pamela worked within the Group in a small unit preparing for enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007.
Sylvie Rurakamvye - Assistant
Tel: +32.254.890.46
Fax: +32.223.017.66
