Our members

Niina Ratilainen has been a councillor on the shore of the Baltic Sea, in the Turku City Council since 2012. Besides City Council, she is a board member of the leading energy company in Southwest Finland and a board member of the Green Party in Finland. She has a master’s degree in Baltic Sea Regions Studies and Sustainable Development. She works at the children’s rights organisation Plan International Finland as an advocacy specialist. Her political passions are combatting climate crises, climate justice, gender equality and human rights.

Before being elected Mayor, Tine Radinja worked for the World Bank on social development in the Middle East and North Africa, and for the League of Arab States on representative NGO platform. He served as Deputy Mayor responsible for HR and nominations, legislative and statutory issues, sports, culture, and social affairs. He was also the president of the European Youth Forum – the world’s biggest youth platform; and active in the Scouts movement. Now he is a proud father of two young scouts.

Having represented the Socialistic People’s Party in local council for over 18 years (2010-2013 as Mayor), Kirstine Bille has chaired various committees: planning, development and culture; families, schools and institutions. She is vice-chair of the International Committee in KL-Local Government Denmark. As CoR member since 2010, she has engaged especially in NAT. She teaches technical English in vocational training and lives in a rural area with her husband and cat. Finds spotting birds funny.

Dr Photoula Hadjipapa is a General Medicine Doctor. She is the Mayor of Lakatameia Municipality since 2017.  She is a member of the Council of Nicosia District Local Government Organization, the Board of Directors of the Nicosia Development Company and the Intermunicipal Company of the Municipalities of Nicosia, and she is the President of the Cyprus Healthy Cities Network. Since December 2024, she participates as a full member of the European Committee of the Regions.

Florian Hassler is State Secretary for Political Coordination and Europe at the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg. After studying political science, economics and public law in Freiburg (Germany), Aix-en-Provence (France) and Bamako (Mali), he was in charge of the office of a Member of the European Parliament. In 2011, he returned to his home country and moved to the Baden-Württemberg State Chancellery, leading the office of Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann. Before becoming State Secretary, he worked as Head of the Strategy Department in the Ministry of State for Principle and Planning, Europe, Social and Integration Policy.

Zdeněk Hřib has served as Chairman of the Czech Pirate Party since November 2024. He is also a Prague City Assembly Member and has been a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic since October 2025. Previously, he served as First Deputy Mayor of Prague (2023–2024) and Mayor of Prague (2018–2023).

A graduate of the Third Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Prague, he helped introduce IT solutions into the Czech healthcare system. His current priorities include urban mobility, transport infrastructure, digitalisation of public administration, e-health, and energy policy. He has received international recognition for supporting democracy and human rights.

Eka von Kalben is Vice-President of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament since 2022. Before that, Eka was the leader of the Greens’ group in the Parliament for ten years. She is committed to nature and climate preservation, social justice and equality.

Anna Kebschull is the district commissioner (Landrätin) of the Osnabrück county. She studied chemical engineering and joined the German Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) in 2009. Anna started as a local councillor and was elected into her current position in 2019. Her thematic priorities are climate change, public transport, digitalisation, economic development, education, health, protection of biodiversity in close cooperation with agriculture.

Mairita Lūse is board member of PROGRESIVIE and environmental activist committed to advancing sustainability, gender equality, social inclusion, and civic engagement. With additional experience in national governance, she focuses on waste management, services for young parents and children in non-family care.

Born in 1963 in the Netherlands, Marieke Schouten has a background in public health, international relations and conflict resolution, working with various partners in Asia, Africa and Europe. Schouten has been involved in Green politics since 2001. As Alderman, she is responsible for the energy transition, Climate Neutrality 2040 Agenda, public space and social affairs. She also chairs the regional Water and Climate network and is member of AIV COS (Advisory Council on International Affairs).

Nejc Smole has been committed to community work since he was a child. He is the mayor of Medvode. In a society that all too often succumbs to egoism, he passionately believes that the only true answer is community, in all its forms and shades. As the Deputy President, he strives to connect the Ljubljana urban region. As the Vice President of the Association of Municipalities of Slovenia, he continually emphasizes that the only right path is from the bottom up. For the past two years, he has also taken on his most important roles to date – being a father and a husband.

Graduate of the Department of Physics of the University of Athens, Kyriakos has worked as Parliamentary Associate, Physics teacher and led a department during the construction of the Athens Airport. Before his election in 2024 as Mayor of the newly established Amathountas Municipality, composed of 8 districts, he served as Mayor of Germasogeia from 2017 – 2024, now one of the eight districts of Amathountas.

Dan Boyle was first elected to Cork City Council in 1991. He returned in 2019, and is responsible for Environment, Amenity & Water. In 2002-11 he served in the lower & upper houses of the Irish Parliament and was Deputy Leader of the upper house 2007-11. He also served as National Chair of the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas. Boyle served on the bureau of the National Forum on Europe and helped to establish Green Foundation Ireland. He has written three books on Green and Irish political history: A Journey to Change (2006); Without Power or Glory (2012) & Making Up The Numbers (2017).

Stefan has been a member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2010, with one year interruption. He is chair of the committee of European and international affairs and member of the budget and finance committee. In his previous mandate, he has been chairing the Commission dealing with the impact of Brexit on North Rhine-Westphalia. Stefan’s motivation to enter politics was to fight pollution and discrimination, and he engages to reconcile economy and environment.

Marko Funkl is co-founder of the Institute for Economic Democracy, which cooperates with many foreign experts, and the author of various professional articles on cooperatives. He has always advocated for more democracy in his town and succeeded with numerous initiatives, including the initiative for the establishment of the Hrastnik Youth Centre and the municipal newsletter

Dr. Stavros Hadjiyiannis, Mayor of South Nicosia–Idalion Municipality, is a Board member of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities, the Nicosia District Local Government Organization, and Cyprus’s delegation to the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and has over 20 years of research and innovation experience. His expertise includes design, modeling, simulation, and prototype development. He has led or participated in over 50 national and European projects, authored 18 journal and 30 conference papers, and co-invented seven patents. Since 2004, he has been an adjunct lecturer at Frederick University.

Emanuel Herold is an elected member of the Bremen Parliament since 2023. He is spokesperson of the Green group on economic policy, ports and shipping policy as well as European affairs. He also is spokesperson of the Committee of European and International affairs of the Bremen Parliament. Prior, he has been working as a staff member of the Green group. Before that he worked as local assistant to MEP Helga Trüpel. His political work is particularly focused on the decarbonisation of industries, circular economy, sustainable shipping, and energy transition.

Mätta Ivarsson is a regional councillor and group leader of the Greens in the Skåne County Council. She has been active in the Swedish Green Party (Miljöpartiet) since 1996 and was drawn to regional politics through her interest in environmental issues, sustainable travel, research and innovation. Her thematic priorities are climate change, mental health and equal access to primary care.

Jennifer Jasberg is a Member of the Hamburg State Parliament (Bürgerschaft), representing the constituency of Bergedorf. She serves as spokesperson for remembrance culture and the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Prior to her parliamentary work, she worked at the European Parliament and in senior positions within public administration in Schleswig-Holstein. Her political focus includes democratic participation, historical education, social cohesion, and environmental and climate policy.

Renata Kosec is mayor of Domžale, a town of 37 000 inhabitants North-East of Ljubljana. She has a Master’s degree in defence studies, and completed the London School of Public Relations, the Young Managers Programme and the IEDC Bled School of Management. Before being elected mayor in November 2022, she was senior advisor for public relations, and since 2014 deputy mayor for almost two full terms. She focuses on discrimination, inclusion (people with fewer opportunities), inclusion of youth in local policital decision processes, environment issues and civil protection.

Cllr Jack Murray is a Sinn Féin representative from Co. Donegal, Ireland. He has been Cathaoirleach (Mayor) of Co. Donegal and has been a member of the Northern & Western Regional Assembly since 2014. Through his role in the Committee of the Regions he is determined to tackle the regional disbalance in Ireland and demand greater investment in the Northwest of Ireland, which has historically lagged behind the rest of the island.

Niklas Nüssle is member of the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg since 2021. He grew up in the small town of Wutöschingen, just a few hundred meters from the German-Swiss border. He studied chemical- and bioengineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Since 2019, he serves as elected local and regional councillor in his home region. As member of the state parliament, he focuses on the topics of European affairs, railway infrastructure and environmental affairs.

Before Belit has been elected Mayor of Hannover in 2019, he was member of the State Parliament of Lower Saxony (2013 to 2019), where he acted as spokesperson for local and domestic policy, migration, sport, network policy and data protection. From 2011-2014, Belit was a councillor in Hannover´s City Council and deputy group leader. He is committed to an open and participation-oriented society. A car-free city centre, a modern urban transport policy, fostering the cultural development and intercultural coexistence play a central role in in his current mandate.

Henna Partanen has served as a city councilor in Espoo since 2012. She has also held positions as the 1st vice-chair of the Espoo city board, chair of the facilities and housing section, and chair of the Green group in the Wellbeing Services County Council of Western Uusimaa. She has previous experience in the Espoo environment committee and the urban planning committee. She actively works for a more pleasant and vibrant city and local nature while fighting against climate change and injustice

Stephen De Ron is a lawyer and law teacher, passionate about the intersection of legal knowledge and education. He is part of the Green Executive Committee of the Greens Luxembourg, where he advocates for a greener future.