The German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) is realigning its approach to European policy. On November 1, 2025, Linn Selle will take over as Alfred von Oppenheim Director of its Europe Center.
Berlin, September 19, 2025 – In an environment shaped by expansionist great powers, how can Europe maintain its capacity to act and stay democratic? DGAP’s Europe Center already addresses these questions. Starting in November, Linn Selle will lead the center’s work as its new Alfred von Oppenheim Director. A respected expert on Europe, she brings years of experience working at associations and in business management and European policy education to her role at DGAP.
Selle is currently head of the Europe division at the Representation of North Rhine-Westphalia to the Federal Government. Until October 2024, she served as president of the European Movement Germany (EBD) for six years. Prior to that, she worked for the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband – vzbv), where she dealt with global market issues from a consumer perspective, and in European policy research, among other positions. She earned her doctorate at the European University Viadrina with a thesis on the role of parliaments in the European Union's multiannual financial framework.
“DGAP is more than a think tank. It is a place where research, debate, and societal exchange come together. This is what makes it such a special part of the European political landscape. In view of current challenges on both a global and European scale, I am very pleased to help strengthen its Europe Center,” said Linn Selle.
“Linn Selle stands for a Europe that embraces today’s geopolitical and economic challenges,” says DGAP’s Otto Wolff Director Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff. “With her strategic vision, communication skills, and strong network, she will give new impetus to DGAP's work on European policy. I am very much looking forward to working with her.”
As head of DGAP’s Europe Center, Selle will focus on key issues of European governance: the role of the European Union in a fragmented global order, the further development of the EU to strengthen its capacity to act, the democratic resilience of its member states, and the question of how German European policy contributes to an effective European Union.
