Monica Frassoni is the President of the Management Board of ECES. She is a former Member of the European Parliament, where she served for two terms until 2009. Monica is today the co-president of the European Green party, and the president of the European Alliance to Save Energy (EUASE).
She is also a member of the board of trustees of "Friends of Europe" a leading think tank that works for the promotion of a more inclusive, sustainable and forward-looking Europe. It is composed of prominent political figures such as Viscount Etienne Davignon (Vice-President of the European Commission 1981–1985), Joaquín Almunia (Vice-President of the European Commission 2010–2014), António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres recently appointed Secretary General of the United Nations and Carl Bildt (Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs 2006–2014 and former Swedish Prime Minister). In addition to that Monica is also a board member of the "European Union Women Caucus" an inter-institutional platform for discussion, bringing together female leaders in the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the representations of the EU Member States to the EU.
Monica Frassoni is a Political Science graduate from the University of Florence Cesare Alfieri. Her political career started in 1983, when she became actively involved in the European Federalist Movement, before being elected as Secretary General of the European organization of Young European Federalists (“JEF Europe”) in 1987
Monica Frassoni's involvement in youth policies continued when she was appointed president of the European Co-Coordinating Bureau of Youth NGOs, position she held from 1991 to 1993. In 1990, Monica Frassoni started working for the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament in charge of constitutional matters, rule of law, procedures and immunities. She was subsequently elected as a member of the European Parliament for her first mandate under the Belgian Green Party Ecolo's lists, as the first non-Belgian politician to be elected under a Belgian political party's colors. During that legislature, she was a member of the Commission for Constitutional Affairs, and a substitute member of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs and the Joint Parliamentary Committee EU-Cyprus
In June 2004, she was re-elected for a second term under the lists of the Italian Green party. During this term, she was a member of the Legal Affairs Committee and a substitute member of the Committees on Constitutional Affairs and on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Monica Frassoni also took part of the Delegation for relations with Mercosur, the delegation for relations with Iran and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
Monica Frassoni also took part of the executive of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) in 2006. From 2002 to 2009, she held, with Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the co-Presidency of the Green/EFA group, a political group in the European Parliament containing green, regionalist and nationalist political parties. Later, she became the co-President of the European Green Party in October 2009. In 2014, she was re-elected as co-president along with Reinhard Bütikofer. Monica Frassoni holds an extensive experience in electoral observation as she was appointed as Chief of the European Union Election observation mission in Venezuela and Bolivia in 2006, by the then EU commissioner for External Relations, Ms. Benita Ferrero Waldner
In 2010, she collaborated on the Europa 2.0 volume entitled “Prospects and evolution of European dream”, published by Ombre Corte, edited by Nicola and Simon Vallinoto Vannuccini with an essay on the conditions for the re-launch of the constitutional process in Europe. Monica is known for her strong commitment for women and youth empowerment policies around the European Union and the world. She is also a worldwide recognized advocator for energy saving, fairer immigration policies in the European Union and democratic support.
Monica is part of Spinelli Group, an initiative launched in 2010 that promotes the federalist push within the European Union decisions and policies. The group aims to become a network of stakeholders, citizens, politicians, academics with a strong pro-European conviction. Currently are part of the Spinelli Group more than 110 Member of the Eurpean Parlimanet and 44 active members divided among EU experts, NGOs, think-tanks etc.
She often publish articles on Huffington Post, Euractiv, and Green European Journal. In 2010 Monica Frassoni was featured in the Top 100 Global Thinkers list published by the American Magazine Foreign Policy. In 2016, she was listed as one of the 40 most influential actors on EU Energy Union Policy by Euractiv.