Jean Monnet Lecture
The European Parliament’s Role in Mediation in times of Geopolitical Crisis: Some personal reflections and views from the field
- Joanna Kaminska
- Date
- Monday 16 March 2026
- Time
- Explanation
- Attendance is free, but registration is mandatory
- Address
-
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague - Room
- 2.17
This lecture and Q&A session with Dr. Joanna Kaminska will focus on her experiences as a mediator for the European Parliament in Ukraine and will provide wider reflections and insights on the EU’s role in mediation and diplomacy in a context of increasing geopolitical tensions. Dr. Kaminska – an EU foreign and security specialist with more than 15 years of experience in EU policy advising across key institutions has extensive experience in mediation, most recently as part of the Jean Monnet Dialogues in Ukraine. In addition, she has also been active in local and European grass-root politics. In this Jean Monnet Lecture, she will focus on the European Parliament’s role in mediation, but also on her own personal journey and some insights for students and young professionals wishing you leave their mark in the fields of peace, diplomacy and progressive politics.
The Lecture is co-organised by the Jean Monnet Chair on the European Union’s Role in Security and Global Affairs (EURISGA), the FGGA Honours Programme 'A better world is possible' and the Student Association of the MA in Diplomacy and International Relations (MIRD).
About the Jean Monnet Guest Lecturer
Joanna KAMINSKA has facilitated confidential, high-stake dialogue between political party leaders, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe and advised on security and democracy building Europe’s top decision-makers for over 15 years. She has served as foreign and security policy advisor to the President of the European Parliament David Maria Sassoli, and worked on coalition making and consensus building between European political forces for over a decade. Political negotiations, democracy building and fostering dialogue between difficult political personalities are her passion. Currently she works as an advisor on mediation at the European Parliament's mediation team, where she forges the culture of compromise between political parties in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine during the war.
Joanna holds a PhD from the University of London, Royal Holloway College. She has extensively published on the foreign policy and Eastern neighborhood issues. Her last book published with Palgrave Macmillan is entitled Poland and the EU Enlargement: Foreign Policy in Transformation.
Between 2018-2024 she was also a Brussels municipal council member. Since 2021 she is a National Council member of the Polish Green Party Zieloni. She had run as a party lead candidate in the European elections of 2024, gaining 30 000 votes in Warsaw, the highest in the party history for a single candidate. In December 2024 she got elected to the European Green Party (EGP) committee, political body managing green parties in Europe, where she is responsible for building nee security and defense narratives.