Mr Bjørn Berge serves as the Council of Europe's Deputy Secretary General since 1 March 2021.

As the Deputy Secretary General he is involved in a number of key areas of the work of the Organisation, including advising and overseeing the implementation of the Secretary General's reform agenda, in line with the decisions and priorities of the Committee of Ministers.

His priorities include shaping the Programme and Budget, while ensuring that the Organisation's activities have maximum impact in advancing democracy, human rights and the rule of law. He also oversees the Council of Europe's staff policy, as well as other key areas of the work of the Organisation.

Before taking up his post, Mr Berge was for a period of four years Director General and Secretary to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Between 2009-2017, he served as Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General, helping to prepare, co-ordinate and implement a number of comprehensive reforms of the Organisation.

Mr Berge has over thirty years of international professional experience.

As a former Norwegian diplomat, he served as International Adviser to the Prime Minister and as Deputy Director of the Foreign Minister's Cabinet responsible for all matters related to Parliament. He also served as speechwriter to three Norwegian Foreign Ministers.

Mr Berge has published several books on a range of issues relating to speech writing and speeches, as well as articles on the Council of Europe's mandate and work.

He was a Fulbright Scholar and holds a M.A. in International Relations from the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C., USA.

Aurélie Bezault has been working since the end of 2016 at the French Erasmus+ National Youth and sport Agency, starting first as both a European Voluntary Officer and a National Point of contact for Erasmus+ Sport.This French Point of contact for Erasmus+ Sport has been established in 2015 thanks to the support of the Ministry of Sports with a triple mission : informing, supporting and promoting French Erasmus+ Sport projects. Since its creation, more than 40 French applicants have been accompanied with success and she gets more than 125 new requests for information or support each year.

Convinced that synergies between Sport actors and the Erasmus+ Youth chapter are relevant, she proposed the creation of a Strategic Partnership between National Agencies on the topic of Sport, which will start by the 2nd semester of 2022.

Beyond animating the Sport Point of Contact, she has been appointed in 2022 Deputy Head of the Erasmus+ Projects Unit of the Agency, coordinating the implementation of the Youth Erasmus+ program (KA1 and KA2) in France with the organization of the calls, the selection and the monitoring of the projects.

Ms. Bozkurt is the Chair of the European Commission’s High Level Group on Gender Equality in Sport. This High Level Group made proposals for future actions to the Commission, the Member States and the sport movement in the field of Gender Equality in sport. Topics related to girls and women’s participation in sport, female coaches, women’s representation in decision-making processes, media coverage as well as gender-based violence are addressed. She fulfills several other leadership roles in Boards of renowned international organizations like International Alert.

As Chair of the Board of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Sweden, she was part of the highest level of leadership of an intergovernmental organization on global democracy working worldwide. As a former Member of European Parliament (2004-2014) representing the Netherlands, Ms. Emine Bozkurt worked on civil rights, including women’s rights.

A passionate advocate of human rights, she was appointed Chairwoman of the cross-party Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup of the European Parliament. As a leading MEP on gender equality in sport, she cooperated closely with the European Commission, national governments, Council of Europe, sport and civil society organisations during her 10 years in European Parliament. In 2014 she was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau by His Majesty the King of the Netherlands.