Brussels Forum Session: Priorities for European Foreign Policy

Hadja Lahbib is the Belgian minister of foreign affairs, European affairs, foreign trade, and federal cultural institutions since July 2022.

Lahbib has a degree in journalism and communication from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). As a journalist for more than 25 years, she combined presenting the news for the French-language public broadcaster RTBF with field journalism as an international reporter. As a special envoy, she regularly travelled to conflict zones, particularly in the Middle East. She has also worked for ARTE and TV5 Monde. As a producer and director, Lahbib created social and cultural documentaries. She participates regularly in cultural events, for example presenting at the Queen Elizabeth International Music Competition. In 2021, Lahbib was appointed to prepare Brussels' candidature to become the European Capital of Culture in 2030.

Lahbib speaks French, Dutch, and English and has some knowledge of Arabic and Farsi. 

Brussels Forum Session: Democracy on the Line: A View From Europe 

Věra Jourová is currently vice president of the European Commission for Values and Transparency. She works in the areas of democracy, rule of law, media pluralism, and the fight against disinformation. From 2014 to 2019, she served as EU commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality. In 2014, before arriving at the European Commission, Ms. Jourová held the position of minister for regional development in the Czech Republic. From 2006 to 2013, she worked in her own company as an international consultant on EU funding and was also involved in consultancy activities in the Western Balkans relating to EU accession. She holds a law degree and a master's degree in the theory of culture from the Charles University, Prague.

Brussels Forum Session: NATO at 75: Defending Today, Defending Tomorrow

US Congressman Mike Turner was elected to the House of Representatives in 2002. He is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and previously served as the lead Republican on the Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee and the Strategic Forces subcommittee. The subcommittees oversee Army and Air Force acquisition programs, all Navy and Marine Corps aviation programs, nuclear weapons, missile defense, and space systems.

Turner has also served, since 2015, on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and was appointed its chairman in 2023. HPSCI has oversight of the US’s 17 intelligence agencies. Most recently, he was selected to join the Oversight and Accountability Committee, which seeks to ensure the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies.

In 2011, Turner was appointed chairman of the US Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and, in 2014, was elected its president. He now serves as vice-chairman of the assembly’s Defense and Security Committee.

Turner served as mayor of the city of Dayton for eight years. During his tenure, he prioritized neighborhood revitalization and economic development. He created Rehabarama, a private-public partnership to rehabilitate neglected housing in the city’s historic neighborhoods. He also established a development fund for grants for housing projects while maintaining a balanced budget.

Turner practiced law in Dayton for more than 17 years, during which time he opened his own private legal practice specializing in real estate and corporate law. He holds a PhD in Liberal Studies, with a focus on urban economic development, from Georgetown University, a law degree from Case Western University School of Law, an MBA from the University of Dayton, and a bachelor’s degree from Ohio Northern University.

Brussels Forum Session: Transatlantic Approaches to De-Risking 

US Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee; the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; and the Appropriations Committee. He previously served three terms in the US House of Representatives, representing Connecticut’s fifth congressional district. Before being elected to Congress, he served for eight years in the Connecticut state legislature.  

Murphy graduated with honors from Williams College and received his law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. 

Isabel is the Senior Manager, DEI, at the German Marshall Fund of the US, responsible for developing and implementing the organisation’s diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives.