Pietro DE MATTEIS

As a convinced federalist I first joined the European movements (e.g. JEF, GFE) after my Erasmus year at University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne in 2003 when I was engaged in the campaign for the ratification of the “European Constitution”. It is back then that I first considered developing a pan-European movement.

An economist by training, I graduated from the University of Milan-Bicocca (summa cum laude) and obtained a Masters-level degree from the European College of Parma. Thanks to some scholarships and by working aside, I supported my studies towards a PhD in international studies at the University of Cambridgeand I researched in the USA (Columbia University) and in China (Renmin University).

As I believe that we can improve Europe also “from the inside”, I currently work for the European External Action Service, which is the EU's diplomatic corps, where I manage cooperation programmes aiming at building trust and mutual understanding with citizens across the world. In the past I worked for the European Commission, the Chamber of Commerce of Milan, for a multinational company in Shanghai, for the European Central Bank in Frankfurt and for the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris.

At the same time, a lot can only be changed “from the outside” by engaging with European citizens directly. For this reason I am involved in civic activism as one of the founders of theEuropean Federalist Partyand of the movementStand Up for Europeof which I am currently vice president. For these movements I developed the grass-roots approach based on participatory engagement at city-level. In 2014 I also run as an MEP candidate for the European elections as an Italian in Belgium and led the efforts to present a transnational list with candidates in six countries (more info here). I am also the initiator of the platform www.theActivist.eu to foster citizens' participations across borders and organisations.

As Europe is diversity, I speak Italian, English, French, Spanish but also some Chinese. I am present on social media (Twitter & Facebook) and in the press (cf. selection of articles here).