Paolo Cesarini is currently a member of the Executive Board of the European Media and Information Fund (EMIF), a philanthropic fund established in partnership between the European University Institute (Florence) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon) that supports investigative journalism, research on digital media and information literacy projects. He is also Senior Advisor at Teneo, a global CEO advisory firm providing integrated, strategic counsel in management, strategy and corporate communications.
Expert in media policies, Digital Single Market issues and EU competition law, he has held a number of senior roles across the European Commission, including in the areas of antitrust, State aid and media. As Head of Media Convergence and Social Media in DG Connect (2017-2020), he coordinated the High Level Expert Group on Fake News, chaired the multi-stakeholder Forum that led to the adoption of the world-first self-regulatory code for online platforms to counter disinformation (2018), contributed to the European Commission’s Action Plans in support of democracy and media (2020), and steered the S+T+ARTS initiative of the Commission, aimed at co-funding collaborations between artists, scientists, engineers and researchers.
Before joining the European Commission in 1989, he worked as member of the Legal Service at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. He has also been teaching EU competition law at Siena and Montpellier Universities, and is a frequent public speaker and author of various publications on EU competition and media policies.
He holds a Master in International Law from Siena University and a LLM from the College of Europe, Bruges.