How to engage with policymakers as civil society

Sebastian Raible is Director EU Government affairs for APELL – The European Open Source Software Business Association. APELL represents European business associations and the Open Source industry. Among the businesses represented by APELL's members are primarily SMEs, some large companies, as well as public administrations, research institutions and individuals. As a computer scientist and political consultant, Sebastian has many years of experience with the Open Source ecosystem. Sebastian has worked as a policy advisor in the European Parliament from 2015-2024, and contributed to a range of relevant dossiers. Most recently, Sebastian was part of the Parliament's negotiating team for the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Product Liability Directive, and the Data Act.

Marcel Kolaja is the Policy and Advocacy Director for Europe at Access Now, an organization defending and extending the digital rights of people and communities at risk. He leads a team of digital rights policy experts and drives the advocacy agenda at the intersection of human rights and digital technologies in Europe. From 2019 through 2024, Marcel served as a Member of the European Parliament. Throughout his tenure, he was also a Member of the Bureau of the European Parliament: from 2019 through 2022 as Vice-President and from 2022 through 2024 as Quaestor. In his work in the European Parliament, Marcel focused mainly on topics related to fundamental rights and consumer protection in the digital age, privacy protection, cybersecurity, encryption, transparency, Free and Open Source Software, artificial intelligence, the Digital Single Market, and media freedom. Legislative acts that Marcel directly worked on include the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation, the Product Liability Directive, the Cyber Resilience Act, the Media Freedom Act, the Political Advertising Regulation, the European Digital Identity, and more. Marcel graduated from the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University in Brno. He had been working in various capacities in the IT industry in technical and managerial roles before he was elected Member of the European Parliament. In his free time, he enjoys spending time in the mountains and in nature.