Council of Europe Anniversary Conference – 75 Years of Germany in the Council of Europe | 8 July 2025 at the Federal Foreign Office

Chair of the Board of the Register of Damage for Ukraine and former president of the European Court of Human Rights

Robert Spano is a former President of the European Court of Human Rights and one of the leading experts on international law, human rights and digital fundamental rights in Europe. Today, he is a partner in an international law firm and co-head of the Artificial Intelligence and ESG practice groups. He advises governments, companies and international organizations on issues of international law, AI governance and human rights protection. He also teaches as a visiting professor at the University of Oxford.

Director of Programme Co-ordination at the Council of Europe

Dr. Claus Neukirch has led the Programming Directorate at the Council of Europe since November 2022. As Head of the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Moldova (2018-2022), Senior Advisor for Conflict Issues during the German OSCE Chairmanship in 2016 and Head of Operations at the OSCE Conflict Prevention Center (2012-2015), he has been closely involved in the war in Ukraine since 2014. From 2017 to September 2018, Dr. Neukirch headed the Council of Europe Office in Tirana.

Ambassador of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Germany

Photo: Anastasia Makeieva

H.E. Oleksii Makeiev has been Ambassador of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Germany since October 2022. Previously, he was Political Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Special Representative for Sanctions Policy. He is considered a recognised expert on international security issues and played a central role in foreign policy coordination after the start of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Head of Division for Public International Law, International Humanitarian Law and International Jurisdiction at the Federal Foreign Office

Dr. Lukas Wasielewski is Head of the Division for General International Law, International Humanitarian Law and International Justice at the Federal Foreign Office. In his role, he deals, among other things, with issues of international law related to accountability for war crimes, a topic that is more relevant than ever in the context of the Council of Europe’s work.

Wilfried Jilge, Eastern European historian, has been a Senior Adviser for Ukraine and the wider Black Sea region at the Integrated Response Hub for Ukraine at the Stabilisation Platform since July 2023. From January 2021 to the end of June 2023, he worked as Senior Adviser Ukraine and Wider Black Sea region at the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) in Berlin. The focus of his work includes advising the German Federal Foreign Office on the support of Ukraine in the context of Russia's current war of aggression against Ukraine on security and connectivity, especially the Black Sea region. Moreover, support for Ukraine in key areas of its reform agenda in the light of the EU-accession process (e.g. judicial reform, fight against corruption, decentralization and local self-government) has been a central part of his advisory work. As a member of the Federal Foreign Office's URC2024 Task Force Wilfried Jilge was intensively involved in the conceptual preparation of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Berlin in June 2024. Since 2018 he has been Associate Fellow of the Center for Order and Governance in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia at the German Council on Foreign (DGAP), where he worked as a program officer with a focus on Ukraine (2016-2018). The focus of his work here is on analyzes of the foreign and domestic policy of Ukraine and Russia as well as connectivity, restoration of international (sea) law, geopolitical and security policy issues in the wider Black Sea region.

Former Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights and Professor of International Law at the University of Cologne

Prof. Dr. Angelika Nußberger is Professor of International Law, Public Law and Comparative Law at the University of Cologne, Director of the Academy for European Human Rights Protection and Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina and member of the Venice Commission. From January 2011 to December 2019, she served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights and, starting in February 2017, as its Vice-President.

Director for Democracy, Council of Europe

Matjaž Gruden leads the Council of Europe's activities in the fields of democracy education, youth, society, media freedom and culture and heritage. His previous positions include Director of Policy Planning, Deputy Head of the Office of the Secretary General and advisor and speechwriter for senior Council of Europe representatives. Before joining the Council of Europe, he worked as a diplomat in the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Deputy Chair of the German Federal Youth Council

Özge Erdoğan is Deputy Chairwoman of the German Federal Youth Council (DBJR), where her responsibilities include European youth policy and cooperation with national youth organisations from Turkey, Ukraine and Belarus. She is particularly committed to youth rings at risk in Europe and was co-organiser of the Youth Space Conferences of the DBJR in cooperation with the German Bundestag and the German delegation to the PVER, where young people from more than 20 countries developed recommendations on democracy, human rights and inclusive governance.

Mayor of Sindelfingen and Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

Dr. Bernd Vöhringer is Mayor of the city of Sindelfingen. He was a member of Sindelfingen's municipal council from 1994 to 2000. He was elected Mayor in 2001 and confirmed in office in 2009 and 2016. Dr. Vöhringer is politically committed to European and global issues in particular. He is currently President of the Chamber of Local Authorities in the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection and Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Frank Schwabe is Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Justice. He has been a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2012 and headed the German delegation from 2022 to 2025. Since 2018, he has also led the Group of Socialists, Democrats and Greens in the Assembly, which is one of the largest political groups with around 150 members from 46 member states. In this role, he is a key advocate for the protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

Prof. Dr. Anne Peters is Director at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Honorary Professor at the University of Basel, Honorary Professor at the University of Heidelberg and the Free University of Berlin and L. Bates Lea Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan Law School. She is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), an associate member of the Institut de Droit International and serves on the German Federal Government's Advisory Council on International Law.

Executive Secretary to the Istanbul Convention and Head of the Unit on Violence against Women, Council of Europe

Johanna Nelles is a human rights lawyer specialising in women's rights, in particular violence against women. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Heidelberg and holds a Master's degree in Human Rights and Democratisation from the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation in Venice. She joined the Council of Europe in 2006 and played an important role in the development of the Istanbul Convention and its monitoring mechanism. In 2020, she took on the role of Executive Secretary of the Convention and heads the Violence against Women Unit, which is responsible for monitoring the Istanbul Convention in the 39 States Parties.

AI Governance and Digital Policy Expert and Head of AI Public Interest & Policy at appliedAI Institute for Europe gGmbH

Lajla Fetic is Head of AI Public Interest & Policy at the appliedAI Institute for Europe and a distinguished expert in public interest technology, AI governance and digital policy. She advises political decision-makers at European, national and municipal level as well as stakeholders from business and civil society on shaping artificial intelligence for the common good. As an expert, she supported the European Parliament and the German Bundestag, among others, in the design and implementation of the EU AI Regulation.

As a public speaker, she regularly talks about how society deals with AI - including in her TEDx Talk on the influence of artificial intelligence on democracy. For her contributions, she was honoured as one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School in Berlin.