Dr. Hannes Swoboda is i.a. President of the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW) and the Institute for International Peace. He served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1996 to 2014, acting as Vice-President (1996–2012) and later President (2012–2014) of the S&D Group. A law and economics graduate from the University of Vienna, he previously held leading political roles in Vienna’s city government. Hannes Swoboda succeeded Erhard Busek as President of the CDRSEE Board of Directors, under which the Joint History Project stood as the organization’s flagship initiative.