The Compagnia di San Paolo is one of the largest independent foundations in Europe and one of the main private funders of research in the fields of EU affairs and international relations. Over the past few years, the Compagnia has raised its profile in these fields, signing strategic partnership agreements with several institutions such as the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Istituto Affari Internazionali, the European Policy Centre, and Notre Europe. Our overall goal is to foster a truly European debate on the main issues the EU faces and to encourage the emergence of a European political space.
The Compagnia also supports the European Fund for the Balkans, a regional cooperation between three other European foundations (the Bosch Stiftung, the King Baudoin Foundation and the Erste Stiftung). It aims to contributing to improving the administration of the countries of the Western Balkans with a view to their integration in the EU.
It is against this background, and as part of the Compagnia’s commitment to support research on the European integration process, that we have started cooperation with the European Council on Foreign Relations on the European Foreign Policy Scorecard. We greatly appreciate this cooperation with ECFR and we sincerely hope that this project will intensify the dialogue among various European stakeholders – both institutional and from the civil society – with the goal of strengthening our understanding of Europe’s role as a global player.
Piero Gastaldo
Secretary General
Compagnia di San Paolo
