Speakers

Maciej Popowski is Director-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations at the European Commission. Ambassador Popowski is a Polish diplomat with 25 years of professional experience. In 2001-2008 served as Deputy Head of the Permanent Representation of Poland to the European Union. Between 2003-2008 he was Poland's first permanent representative to the EU's Political and Security Committee. In 2009-2011 he served as Head of Cabinet of the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek. From 2011 until 2015 he was Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service, supervising the Common Security and Defence Policy as well as development policy. In April 2016, Mr Popowski joined the European Commission’s DG NEAR serving as its Deputy Director-General and, from September 2020 until January 2023, as acting Director-General. He supervised, inter alia, EU’s assistance to Ukraine following the Russian aggression as well works on the opinion on the candidate status for Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia.