Gian Andrea Garancini

Associate Consultant

Offices: Brussels - Policy consulting

Email: gianandrea.garancini@gmail.com

Gian Andrea was born in Milan on August 7th, 1971. A national of both Italy and Greece, he is married and father of two daughters (24 & 22).

He holds a European Baccalaureate, and has graduated in International and Diplomatic Sciences at the University of Trieste, with study periods in the United States, Egypt and Switzerland.

From 1994 to 1999, he worked as EP Parliamentary Assistant, then became Director of the EU Liaison Office of the Aosta Valley Regiion, also serving as Coordinator of the Union of the EU Italian Regional Offices in Brussels.

In 2003 he was appointed by the Italian Government as Head of Mission of the Presidency of the Italian Council of Ministers’ EU Office in Brussels, position he held until 2007 when he moved to Crete, Greece, with his family, starting a career as free-lance consultant on EU policies and programmes.

After becoming President of the School of European Education in Heraklion, and hosting a TV show on European Affairs, in 2014 Gian Andrea was elected City Councilor & soon after appointed Deputy-Mayor for Tourism of the City of Heraklion.

He was also elected Member of the Union of Greek Municipalities’ General Assembly, and joined Eurocities as a Member of its General Assembly.

As advisor, he has been employed as EU Grants Manager for the SwitchAsia Programme of the European Union, he participated to the European Commission Intelligent Cities Challenge Initiative as Tourism City Expert and worked as Transnational Project Manager mainly in the fields of Entrepreneurship, Tourism, Regional and Local Development and Culture.

Gian Andrea, who is a renowned drummer with a rich concert activity, fluently speaks 7 languages. He is President of the Club for the UNESCO “Knossos” in Crete, Member of the Board of the Chamber of Greek – Chinese Economic Cooperation and co-founder of the Social Cooperative “3 win action” for the promotion of sustainable tourism.

Music, cooking and traveling are his main passions.