Anna Zachariadou is the Deputy International Secretary of the Greek centre-right governing party New Democracy and a defence and security specialist. She has a double Ma degree in International War Studies from the Universities of Potsdam and UCD and specializes in crisis and conflict management, violent extremism, warfare development and defense cooperation. She has worked at the EU Commission and the Parliament in the fields of defence, security, migration and foreign policy, while she regularly writes about the concept of European strategic autonomy. She is also the Vice President of Generation Democracy network, the International Republican Institute's global community that advocates for democracy and human rights.