Matjaž Gruden

Matjaž Gruden is Director for Democracy at the Council of Europe since May 2018. His responsibilities include Council of Europe activities and programmes in the area of education, including education for democratic citizenship, youth cooperation, civil society, media freedom and journalist safety, culture and cultural heritage and sport.

He has been asked by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić to lead the preparation of her annual reports on the state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe. He has worked with Ms Pejčinović’s predecessor, Thorbjørn Jagland, on five similar reports on democratic security in Europe, which he has helped to conceptualize and prepare.

Matjaž Gruden previously served as Director of Policy Planning, Deputy Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, political adviser and speechwriter for the Secretary General Terry Davis and President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Lord Russell-Johnston.

Prior to his career at the Council of Europe, he was a diplomat at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted in Brussels. As a member of the first team of Slovenian diplomats accredited in Brussels after the recognition of independence of Slovenia, he has contributed to the establishment of formal relations and the negotiations of first cooperation agreements with the European Union. He was posted in Brussels between 1993 and 1995, when he joined the staff of the Council of Europe, following his country’s accession to this organisation.

He holds a law degree from the Law Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, where he graduated in 1990 with the thesis “The European communities and its participation in multilateral international conventions”, which focused on prospects for an EC accession to the European convention on human rights. He continued his studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, where he obtained a post-graduate degree in EU law in 1991.

Matjaž Gruden regularly publishes articles on European, human rights and democracy related issues, notably in the Slovenian media. A book of essays “Long Live all the Nations” was published in 2018.