Matúš Vallo is Mayor of Bratislava and former architect. He focuses on creating a strong and resilient city with a high level of transparency as a way of fighting corruption. He co-founded the Free Cities Pact together with the mayors of Warsaw, Prague and Budapest. He also leads the political party Team Bratislava. 

Alexander Van der Bellen (born in 1944) took office as the Federal President of the Republic of Austria on 26 January 2017.

From 1994 to 2012, Alexander Van der Bellen was a member of the Austrian National Assembly, and from 1999 to 2008 Chairman of the Greens’ Parliamentary Group. From 1997 to 2008, he served as Federal Spokesperson for the Austrian Greens.

Apart from being a politician, Van der Bellen also pursued an academic career. From 1980 to 2009, he was appointed as Full Professor of Economics at the University of Vienna, and from 1990 to 1994, Deputy Dean and then Dean of the University of Vienna School of Social and Economic Sciences. 

Paul Van Tigchelt (50) started his career in 1998 in the Antwerp prosecutor’s office, after which he became deputy chief of staff, head of the Integral Security Cell and spokesperson for the Minister of the Interior (2008-13). From 2014 he served as deputy attorney-general and from 2016 as the director of the Belgian anti-terrorism body. In 2020, he was appointed deputy chief of staff to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, to whom he succeeded in Oct. 2023.