Marilena Koppa, PhD, is Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of European, International and Area Studies of Panteion University and author of several articles and books on Balkan Politics, democratization, nationalism and European Security and Defence. She has been a member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2014. She was the Coordinator of the S&D Group at the Subcommittee on Security and Defense and also Vice-chairperson of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. Among others, she was the rapporteur of the European Parliament “On the implementation of the CSDP based on the Annual Report from the Council to the EU on the Common Foreign and Security Policy” in 2013 as well as the EP Rapporteur on ‘Enlargement: policies, criteria and the EU’s strategic interests” in 2012. Her latest book is “The Evolution of the Common Security and Defence Policy. Critical Junctures and the quest for the EU’s Strategic Autonomy” (Palgrave McMillan, St Anthony Series, London, forthcoming).