Course offered: La Commission européenne en pers/pros-pective : métiers, mutations, réformes (30h)
Mr. Manuel Szapiro is currently Director of the European Commission Representation in Barcelona.
Previously, he was deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič. As such, he took a lead on: EU-UK negotiations, inter-institutional negotiations, strategic programming (Commission Work Programme coordination) and foresight.
From 2014-2019, he was – as member of Cabinet of Vice-President Šefčovič – in charge of delivering on the Energy Union strategy, which entailed launching and steering the European Battery Alliance, the European Raw Materials Alliance, the Coal Regions in Transition initiative and Breakthrough Energy Europe (public-private-partnership with Bill Gates Ventures to invest into clean-tech projects), amongst others.
Manuel Szapiro joined the European Commission back in March 2003 as member of the Task Force on the Future of the Union (i.e. European Convention and Treaty changes), placed under the authority of the President. In 2008, he was appointed deputy Head of Unit for Institutional Issues and Better Regulation in the European Commission Secretariat General. He was then leading teams responsible for, respectively: European Citizens Initiatives, EU decentralised agencies, EU Treaties implementation, delegated and implementing acts (comitology) and expert groups. For three years, Manuel also helped set up the European Joint Undertaking for ITER (Fusion for Energy) in Barcelona (Spain).
Before joining the European Commission, Manuel Szapiro worked as a Senior Lecturer with the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, and an International Adviser to Business Europe in Brussels.
He holds postgraduates in economics-finance-energy (University Paris-Dauphine), public policy (Science Po Paris) and EU affairs (College of Europe in Bruges).
Manuel is a former academic assistant and student at the College of Europe in Bruges (promotion Leonardo da Vinci) – and has been a Professor in its European Political and Governance Studies Department for the past 18 years. For some years, he was also 'maître de conférences' and Director of studies in Sciences Po (Paris). His publications to date include a reference book (John Harper Publishing, London, 2013) on the European Commission and latest articles on geopolitics and strategic autonomy.