Established in 2007, the ECFR Council has grown from 50 founding members to over 270 members from across Europe.
Currently chaired by Carl Bildt, Emma Bonino and Mabel van Oranje, our unique European strategic community includes serving foreign ministers, former prime ministers, members of national parliaments and European Parliament, EU Commissioners, former NATO secretaries generals, thinkers, journalists and business leaders. The Council gathers once a year as a full body for the Annual Council Meeting, hosted in a different European capital each year.
The Council is the strongest and most visible expression of ECFR’s pan-European identity. Through their individual networks and collective engagement with ECFR policy and advocacy initiatives, Council Members help us to europeanise the national conversations in the EU capitals on the EU’s foreign policy priorities and challenges.
Working alongside the ECFR Senior Management Team and policy staff across seven European offices and Brussels, the expertise and outreach of our Council Members ensure ECFR has a truly pan-European perspective.