EPRA Staff

Director of Broadcasting Division, Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia Herzegovina (CRA)

Dunja Mijatović was re-elected as EPRA Chairperson at the 29th Meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, on 8 May 2009. She previously occupied the position of Vice-Chairperson since May 2003 and became Chairperson in May 2007.

Dunja Mijatović is Director of Broadcasting at the Communications Regulatory Agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She joined the Independent Media Commission IMC, a predecessor of the CRA, on its establishment in 1998, and since then she has been involved in media regulation in BiH and abroad. Dunja holds a Master's Degree in European Studies after studies at the Universities of Sarajevo, Sussex, Bologna and the London School of Economics, which she completed with a thesis on the "Internet and Freedom of Expression". She is a member of several professional associations and has written numerous articles on topics such as the Digital Divide and the use of hate language and incitement to religious and national hatred.

Further to the EPRA Statutes, the Chairperson chairs the meetings and represents the EPRA in its external relations. He/she is also responsible for the agenda and the minutes of the meetings.

EPRA Senior Vice-Chairperson: Jürgen Brautmeier (DE)

Deputy Director, Media Authority of Northrhine-Westphalia (LfM NRW), Germany

EPRA Vice-Chairperson: Mónica Ariño (GB)

Mónica Ariño was elected as EPRA Vice-Chairperson at the 29th EPRA Meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, on 8 May 2009.

Monica Ariño joined Ofcom’s international team in January 2006. She has worked as a policy advisor in the areas of European content regulation, convergence, and consumer issues, project managing the negotiations of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the consumer aspects of the Review of the Electronic Communications Framework. From January 2008 she is responsible for the coordination of the international team’s activities internally and externally, including the engagement with key European institutions. She also plays a liaison role with the academic community in the UK and abroad. Monica graduated in law at the Autónoma University (Madrid) and in 2005 obtained a PhD in law from the European University Institute (Florence). She has published widely and has been a visiting scholar at the Universities of Columbia and Oxford. Prior to joining Ofcom, Monica was a lecturer at Central European University (Budapest).

Jean-François Furnémont was re-elected as EPRA Vice-Chairperson at the 29th EPRA Meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, on 8 May 2009. He has been active in the EPRA Board since 15 May 2008.

Jean-François Furnémont qualified in Journalism Studies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and in International Relations and European policy at the Université de Liège (ULG). Former freelance journalist, he is the author of numerous political biographies (Jean Gol, François Perin, Guy Spitaels). He was also spokesperson of the Parti réformateur libéral. Former manager of the public service broadcaster of the French-speaking Community of Belgium (RTBF) and of its advertising unit (RMB), he joined the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel in 2000, of which he is Director General since 2003. He is also member of the Scientific Committee of the legal magazine "Auteurs & Médias".

EPRA Vice-Chairperson: Sebastiano Sortino (IT)

Commissioner, Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni - AGCOM, Italy

Sebastiano Sortino was re-elected as EPRA Vice-Chairperson at the 29th EPRA Meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, on 8 May 2009 for a further period of two years.

Sebastiano Sortino was elected by the Italian Parliament as member (Commissioner) of the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM) in 2005, within which he belongs to the Commission for Services and Products.
After reading for the bar at the University of Catania, he specialised in economics in Italy and abroad. He worked for more than ten years for the Confindustria (i.e. the leading entrepreneurial organization in Italy) as the person in charge of the small entreprises sector. He was then in charge of the relationships between the Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (Italian oil national company) and the regions and further public entities during five years. From January 1997 to Febuary 2005, he was Director general of the Italian Federation of Newspaper and Periodical Publishers (FIEG), and represented the FIEG both in the Italian public bodies in charge of implementing press law and at the international level. He was also member of the National Council for Economic Affairs and Labour (CNEL).

Secretary to the EPRA

Emmanuelle has been Secretary to the EPRA since 1996 and is currently working full-time from the new Secretariat's location in Strasbourg. She has been working in parallel as a Project Manager at the European Institute for the Media (EIM) with focus on European media regulation and policies until 2002 when she started working full time for the EPRA. She studied media law at the University of Poitiers and did a post-graduate course in European Studies at the University of Aachen, Germany.
She has written several publications and articles dealing with comparative broadcasting regulation in Europe and regulatory authorities.

Free-lance research support to the EPRA Secretariat

Deirdre Kevin joined the EPRA secretariat in September 2004 for two days a week. She has been a project manager at the European Institute for the Media since 1998 working in the Communication Policy department. Deirdre completed a BA in Communication Studies at Dublin City University and a post-graduate Masters in European Economic and Public Affairs at University College Dublin. The focus of her research has been the development of a European Public Sphere and media coverage of European affairs, and media policy and regulation, most recently media ownership regulation. She has managed projects and has numerous publications in the field of European media. Deirdre was also co-editor of the journal Trends in Communications. She is providing free-lance research support to the EPRA Secretariat.