Conference ‘The future of asylum in the European Union’

06 November 2019

The future of asylum in the European Union: new Commission, new opportunities?

Wednesday, 13 November 2019

           19:00 – 20:30

Chapel for Europe (Rue Van Maerlant 22/24, Brussels)

The reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) is at stake due to the persisting deadlock in the Council of the European Union. With a new European Commission, the European Union has a new opportunity to relaunch a reform that prioritises human lives.

Speakers:

Jèrôme Vignon, Adviser at the Jacques Delors Institute and Honorary Director General at the European Commission

Jérôme VIGNON has spent, as a French civil servant, half of his professional career in the French Ministry of Finance and the second half in the European Commission where he started in 1985 as a member of President DELORS cabinet, responsible for macroeconomic policies.

He then headed the “Forward studies unit “in the European Commission until 1998 with a particular focus on structural policies of the EU. He has been since then in charge of the Commission’s White paper on European governance” (2000) and finally appointed as the Director for social protection and inclusion in DG EMPL until 2009. Back in Paris, he was appointed by the French government since 2010 to chair the ”ONPES” (National Observatory of poverty and social inclusion), an independent tripartite body compounded with academics in the social field, members of the civil society and representatives from social and economic administrations.

Claudia Bonamini, Policy and Advocacy Officer at Jesuit Refugee Service Europe

Claudia Bonamini is the Policy and Advocacy Officer at JRS Europe since June 2017. She coordinates the development of policy positions of the JRS network in Europe on EU asylum related issues. Moreover, she is responsible for advocacy work towards the EU institutions and other relevant European stakeholders. 

Before joining JRS, she worked for about 9 years at the Flemish Refugee Action, doing policy and advocacy work on a wide range of issues, going from reception of asylum seekers to assisted voluntary return, specialising in particular on protection issues including asylum procedures and the need for safe and legal access both at national and at European level.

Practical information.