Ernst Stetter was nominated as Secretary General of the newly created Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) on January 30th 2008. He is also a regular commentator on EU affairs in the media. In 1976 Ernst Stetter began his professional career as a lecturer in economics at the DGB Trade Union Centre for Vocational Training in Heidelberg. From 1980 to 2008 he worked for the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in various positions. He spent the first four years at the FES as a Consultant in Dakar, Senegal. In 1988, Ernst Stetter was appointed as Head of the Africa Department. In 1994 he started working as Head of the Central Europe Unit. In 1997 he moved to Paris and became the Director of the FES Office in France while in 2003 he was appointed as Director of the EU-Office of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Brussels. Ernst Stetter is an economist and political scientist. He studied in Tübingen and Heidelberg (Germany) focusing on international trade, finance, economic and social policy as well as development issues. In 1980 he obtained his PhD in political science for his dissertation entitled The Association of ACP-Countries (Lomé I and II) to the European Community and the STABEX-System. In 2003 he received the French decoration of Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite.