LLYC launches European Affairs

In the wake of a successful launch of the Next Generation EU Unit, LLYC is now committed to expanding its European services with the launch of European Affairs. As part of the firm’s Public Affairs area, this new department will specialize in the institutional and legislative context of the European Union and its links with national and global public policies. LLYC will deliver political analysis and intelligence services, regulatory monitoring and corporate positioning with respect to EU institutions, thus assisting its customers to better understand the European environment and successfully position themselves in an increasingly complex global scenario.

Paloma Baena Olabe, who heads LLYC’s Next Generation EU Unit, will lead the new European Affairs department. She’ll team up with Pablo García-Berdoy, former Permanent Representative of Spain to the European Union (REPER), who joins the new department as Principal Advisor.

Baena, a graduate of Harvard University’s School of Government, joined the consultancy in December 2020 from its Advisory Board. She is an expert in governance and sustainability, public policy and economic development. As a senior manager at the OCDE, World Bank and Inter-American Bank for over a decade, she has advised governments and companies in the development of public-private partnership projects and the negotiation of international agreements at the OCDE Council or G20 level. She has been global governance director at Save the Children International, where she led the transformation of its corporate governance, and VP of strategic alliances at Clarity AI, specializing in technology for sustainability. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Adevinta Spain, a trustee of the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation for Human Rights and an adjunct professor at the IE School of Global and Public Affairs.

García-Berdoy has spent most of his career working in European affairs. A diplomat since 1987, he has held various posts within the Secretariat of State for the European Union, including Advisor for relations with Central and Eastern European countries and Head of Cabinet to the Secretary of State. He was Counsellor for European Affairs at the Spanish Embassy in Bonn, a member of the Presidency of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe and a leading counsellor in the European Department of the German Foreign Ministry. He served as director-general in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador of Spain to Romania and Moldova. In 2010 he launched the Aspen Institute in Spain, of which he was the first secretary general. From 2012 to 2016 he served as Ambassador of Spain to Germany. In December 2016 he was appointed Ambassador Permanent Representative to the European Union (REPER), a post from which he stepped down in summer 2021. Subsequently, he has been teaching European politics at the American University in Washington.

Joan Navarro, partner and vice president of Public Affairs at LLYC, says: “We are in the midst of the most extensive convergence of competencies in recent years. No decision taken by an Autonomous Community concerning any production sector has not first been discussed in global terms in the European Parliament or Commission. Awareness of, and even participation in, these discussions may even be as relevant today at the European level as they ever were at the national level”.

“Europe has assumed an ambitious and transformational leadership position in recent years, with long-term goals and funding leading to exponential regulatory growth. The keyword is anticipation in this context. Only by knowing, understanding and constructively contributing to European public policies and regulatory agendas can we be major players in shaping and developing them, and not mere agents of their implementation”, explains Paloma Baena.

For Pablo García-Berdoy: “Business and social perspectives constitute a cornerstone of European integration. Economic and social actors must be aware of European processes and always develop their strategies with an eye on European Union regulatory and investment developments”.