Heather Grabbe

Grabbe was born on 30 August 1970 in Pasadena, California, United States. She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Somerville College, Oxford University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1991. From 1993 to 1995, she worked as an editor for Oxford Analytica. Between 1996 and 1998 she was a Research Fellow at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, where she co-authored the first major book on enlargement of the European Union to post-communist Europe, Enlarging the EU Eastwards, with Kirsty Hughes. Grabbe went on to conduct academic research at the European University Institute in Florence, the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris, the Centre for International Relations in Warsaw, and Wolfson College, Oxford University. Between 2000 and 2004, Grabbe was deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, where she published extensively on EU enlargement and its implications, as well as work on transition in Central and South-Eastern Europe; the development of the EU’s new policies on justice, liberty and security; the EU’s institutions and budget; and EU foreign and security policies. She lectured on the political economy of EU enlargement at the London School of Economics until 2005. == Career in Brussels ==

Between 2004 and 2009, Grabbe worked as senior advisor to then European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn. In an interview with POLITICO Europe, Grabbe reported that Rehn offered her the job in 2004 saying "You’ve done all this work on how the EU transformed Hungary, how about trying to do the same for Bosnia and Turkey?". Grabbe was responsible in his cabinet for policy on Balkans countries and later Turkey. In her time at Open Society, Grabbe analyzed and commented widely on trends and challenges affecting Europe, particularly the impact of populist radical right parties, the digital transformation, and the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. In 2014, when populist parties obtained unprecedented support in the European Parliament elections, Grabbe analyzed the negative influence that these parties’ agendas and rhetoric would have on Europe’s open society. Together with senior diplomat Stefan Lehne, she warned that radical right populism fundamentally undermines European integration. They recommended that EU leaders and institutions engage citizens directly to address real-world challenges, instead of giving disproportionate attention to issues that the populist rhetoric magnified, such as migration. She argued that populism thrived because of the political instrumentalization of socio-economic inequalities, and because of insecurity due to globalization and digital transformations. According to Grabbe, the key to address both the root causes of populism and citizens’ grievances is for the EU focus on the "Big 3 challenges" around planet, lifetime and technology. In 2018, she spoke at TEDx Brussels and in the Belgian Senate's Superdemocracy series on the importance of critical thinking and mindful engagement with post-truth politics, and how technology is affecting the openness of societies and quality of democracy. In 2019-2021, as the EU committed itself to the "European Green Deal" to make the transition to a carbon-neutral economy, Grabbe highlighted the importance of making it a "fair transition". She spoke about the importance of fairness towards the most vulnerable in society, towards the global South, and between the present and future generations. She also highlighted the urgency of deepening democratic engagement to demonstrate to citizens "that climate inaction will only deepen social and economic injustices, while pursuing a low-carbon transition will offer new jobs and opportunities." Grabbe’s work has been published in, among others, the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian. In 2017, POLITICO Europe ranked her highly among "the women who shape Brussels". == Bibliography ==