THE JURY
Choosing the Award winner
The Jury was made up of seven representatives from EU institutions, the private sector and NGOs, as well as the Rapporteur from the Evaluation Committee. The European Commission, in collaboration with the International Trade Centre, nominates the Jury. The members of the Jury serve on a voluntary basis; they do not receive any financial compensation for their contributions.
The Jury selected the winner and ‘Special Mentions’ from the shortlist provided by the Evaluation Committee. The Jury based its decision on the content of the shortlisted applications, the evaluation reports from the Evaluation Committee, as well as the the presentations pitched by the cities via video-conference.
The Jury took final decisions on the Award Winner and Special Mentions in a closed, non-public vote.
The Jury for the EU Cities for Fair and Ethical Trade Award 2021 are highlighted below.
The members of the 2018 Jury can be viewed here.
Helmut Scholz
MEP, European Parliament (DE, GUE)
Helmut Scholz is a Member of the European Parliament, where he has served since 2009 as Coordinator of the GUE/NGL group in the Committee on International Trade. He is also Coordinator in the Constitutional Affairs Committee and works in the delegations for relations with the United States, with China, and in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. He is Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Fair Trade Working Group, where he was in charge of promoting the establishment of the EU Cities of Fair and Ethical Trade Award by the EU Commission. Mr. Scholz is a Member of the EP’s Steering Committee for the Parliamentary Assembly at the WTO. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute for International Relations in political science in 1980 and served as a diplomat in the Embassy of the German Democratic Republic in the PR China. He has been Head of the International Department of his party PDS, later Die LINKE, and was elected to the party’s executive committee, as well as to the executive board of the Party of the European Left (EL). In numerous reports and speeches, Helmut Scholz has argued for creating the necessary regulatory framework to cope with new global value chains and rapid technological development in order to provide for fair and mutually beneficial trade relations as a contribution to prevent conflict, to implement the United Nations’ Social Development Goals by 2030 and to overcome poverty and exploitation.
Ewa Synowiec
Director for Sustainable Development, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
Since 2006 senior manager at the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission. As From July 2020, director in charge of trade relations with countries of the Sub-Saharan African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP), South and South East Asia, as well as trade and sustainable development and the Green Deal. In her previous director's functions, she was dealing with ACP countries, trade and sustainability aspects, agri-food trade, public procurement, intellectual property, bilateral trade relations with European (non-EU) and Central Asia countries. Before joining the European Commission, she worked for Polish public administration, including the function of Deputy Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of Poland to the EU. She has a PhD grade from Warsaw School of Economics.
Ashleigh McLennan
Ashleigh McLennan is a Sustainable Procurement and Economy Officer at ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, a global network of more than 1,750 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development. Ashleigh helps governments to use their public spending strategically to achieve social and environmental objectives. She is an author of the European Commission's ‘Making Socially Public Procurement Work’ and upcoming ‘Buying Social’ guidance, which aim to promote procurement as a tool for increasing employment opportunities, decent work, social inclusion and ethical trade. She holds a MSc Environmental Governance from the University of Freiburg and a MA Geography from the University of Edinburgh, and also previously worked in economic development policy in Scotland.
Anders Aeroe
Anders Aeroe has been Director of the Division of Enterprises and Institutions of the International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva, Switzerland since November 2016. Mr Aeroe, a Danish national, joined ITC in 2007 and has since then held several positions within ITC, including as Acting Deputy Executive Director, as Director of Division of Market Development, and as Chief of the Market Analysis and Research Section. During his professional career Mr Aeroe has focused on the interrelated topics of trade development at enterprise, institutional and policy level, trade intelligence, competitiveness, sector and value chain development, and industrial transformation.
Sergi Corbalán
Executive Director, Fair Trade Advocacy Office, Brussels
Sergi Corbalán studied law and International Politics in Spain, Switzerland and Belgium. He counts with 18 years’ experience in various private sector and civil society European and Global networks on EU and Global policy and advocacy. In 2008 Sergi became Executive Director of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, based in Brussels. The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) speaks out on behalf of the Fair Trade movement for Fair Trade and Trade Justice with the aim to improve the livelihoods of marginalised producers and workers in the South. The FTAO is a joint initiative of Fairtrade International and the World Fair Trade Organisation (Europe and Global). Through these three networks the FTAO represents an estimate of 2.5 million Fair Trade producers and workers from 70 countries, 24 labelling initiatives, over 500 specialised Fair Trade importers, 4,000 World Shops and more than 100,000 volunteers.
Enrico Nano
PhD candidate in development economics at the Graduate Institute (IHEID), Geneva
Trained in impact evaluation, his research focuses on trade, education and labor economics, assessing how policies at different levels can impact human capital accumulation, both in developing and developed countries. He has worked as a research economist at the World Trade Organization, as a research assistant at IHEID's Center for Finance and Development and at the Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel, as well as at the European Commission and at UniCredit Bank in Moscow. Enrico holds two Master's degrees in economics from the Collegio Carlo Alberto and the University of Turin, with a thesis on the socioeconomic determinants of health outcomes. He is an active member of the Global Shapers Community, is fluent in English and Italian, and has a working knowledge of French and Spanish.
Zeb Asghar
Vice President - Strategy & Innovation. AMFORI
Zeb has been working for amfori close to 2 years where she is the Strategy & Innovation Vice President where she is responsible leading the amfori strategy and driving innovation throughout the organisation. Zeb Asghar has 20+ years of comprehensive experience across diverse functions in a highly complex environment. She is an innovative strategist, developing complex business solutions and result driven leader focusing on exceptional results and lead through change to maximize customer value.
The EU Cities for Fair and Ethical Trade Award is an initiative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade implemented by the International Trade Centre.