Steven Blockmans is Directo at the Brussels-based think tank Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Professor of EU External Relations Law and Governance at the University of Amsterdam, and a founding member of the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER). He is the author of ‘Tough Love: the EU’s relations with the Western Balkans’ (AP/CUP 2007) and the (co-)editor of more than 10 volumes, including ‘The EU’s Role in Global Governance’ (OUP 2013) and ‘Differentiated Integration in the EU: From the Inside Looking Out’ (CEPS 2014). He served as leading author of the FES-sponsored Task Force on ‘More Union in European Defence’ chaired by Javier Solana (CEPS 2015).

For more than 20 years Steven has combined his academic work with contract research carried out for EU and national donors, consultancy activities and training for professionals. He has advised governments of third countries on their relations with the EU and worked on numerous technical assistance projects in wider Europe and Asia. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and a frequent commentator on EU affairs for international media. Before joining CEPS in 2012, Steven was Head of Research at the Asser Institute, an international law centre based in The Hague. From 2010 to 2014, he was a special visiting professor at the Law Faculty of University of Leuven. From 2007 to 2009 he served as a long-term expert on legal approximation in the framework of an EU-sponsored project in support for the Ministry of European Integration of Albania.