Philippe Herzog, economist and politician, is the founding president of Confrontations Europe, which was created in 1992. A former student at the Ecole Polytechnique and the ENSAE, former administrator at the INSEE and professor of economics, he was a member of the PCF leadership between 1972 and 1996, and one of the main authors of the common programme of the left. As a Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 2004, he chaired the Committee on External Economic Relations and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. From 2010 to 2014 he was special adviser to Michel Barnier, then European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He was a member of the National Planning Commission, the French Economic and Social Council and the Economic Analysis Council for the Prime Minister (1997-2008) and President of the Institute for Public Financial Education. He has been awarded the Palmes académiques, the Ordre National du Mérite and the Légion d’Honneur.