Circle of Friends

­­­­­In addition to the advisory board, Das Progressive Zentrum is gathering eminent intellectuals from around the world to support our progressive objectives and to strengthen our international connections. This board, the Circle of Friends, is designed to continually grow - just like our thinktank. ­

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• Dr. Ron A­smus, Head of the Brussels´ Office of the German Marshall Fund
• Annemie Burkhardt, Executive Director of BQN (Vocational Qualifications Network for Immigrants)
• Dr. Frans Becker, Deputy Director, Wiardi Beckman Stichting, Den Haag
  
• Tissy Bruns, ­ Journalist, Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin
  
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• Norbert Büning, Executive Partner, Accen­ture GmbH­
• Dr. René Cuperus, Senior Research Fellow, Wiardi Beckman Stichting, Den Haag 
• Ulrich Deupmann, Publisher
  
• Patrick Diam­ond, Senior Research Fellow, Policy Network, former Head of Policy Planning in 10 Downing Street and Senior Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister
• Dörte Dinger, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences 
• Dr. Gunilla Fincke, Director of the Expert Council of the German Foundations on Integration and Migration
  
• ­­Dr. Jörg Forbrig, Senior Program Officer Central and Eastern Europe, The German Marshall Fund of the United States ­­ Berlin
  
• Ralf Fücks, Chairman of the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation
• Dr. Heiko Geue, State Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt
  
• Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Vice President of the German Bundestag, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen
  
• Nina Hauer, Managing Director, Deekeling Arndt Advisors, former Member of the German Bundestag
  
• Hubertus Heil, Vice Chairman of the SPD Parliamentary Faction in the German Bundestag 
• Dr. Ernst Hillebrand, Head of the Department Middle and Eastern Europe, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
  
• Johannes Jung, former Member of the German Bundestag
  
• Katrine Kielos, Lead Writer, Aftonbladet, Stockholm
  
• Prof. Dr. ­Jürgen Kocka, Professor and former President Social Science Research Center Berlin
• Jürgen Krönig, UK and Ireland correspondent for the German weekly „Die Zeit“
• Dr. Ernst Hillebrand, Director of the Paris Office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)
• Dr. Roger Liddle, Member of the House of Lords, Guest Lecturer at the London School of Economics, former economic policy advisor to President of the EU-Commission José Manuel Barroso and Prime Minister Tony Blair

• Will Marshall, Founder and President of the Progressive Policy Institute in the U.S.
• Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merkel, Director of the research unit "Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges" at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)
• Ann Mettler, Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Lisbon Council­ 
• Robert Misik, Journalist and non-fiction-wirter, curator of the dialogue series "genial dagegen" at the Bruno-Kreisky-Forum, Wien
  
• Omid Nouripour, Member of the German Bundestag, Alliance 90/The Greens
  
• Dr. Leonard Novy, Political scientist and Publisher
  
• Pär Nuder, Member of the Swedish Parliament and former Swedish Minister of Finance
• Thomas Oppermann, Member of the German Bundestag, First Parliamentary Secretary of the SPD Parliamentary Group
  
• Cem Öz­demir, Chairman of the Party Bündnis 90/Die Grünen­
  
• Prof. Dr. William E. Paterson, Professor at Birmingham University, Chairman of the German-British Forum ­
  
• Christian Rickens, Author of several books and editor at manager magazin­ ­
  
• Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Party Leader of the Danish Social Democratic Party ­­
  
• Prof. Dr. Gert G. Wagner, Professor at the Technical University Berlin, Head of Department at the German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin
• Jakob von Weizsäcker, Resident Scholar at the European think tank Bruegel, Brussels
  
• Jakub Wisniewski, Director of the Planning Department of the Foreign Ministry of Poland­ 
• Brigitte Zypries, Member of the German Bundestag, former Federal Minister of Justice (2002-2009)