François Balate is in charge of social policy and academic coordination at the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS). 

Previously, he was political advisor to the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Vasco Alves Cordeiro (2022-2025). Other prior positions include Head of Office of the FEPS President (2020-2022) and Director for Policy and Advocacy at the European Youth Forum (2018-2020). He was a visiting lecturer on European affairs at Science Po Lille in 2017.  He has more than 10 years of experience in European policy-making and politics. His expertise covers a wide range of fields, including social policy, democracy, as well as budgetary and constitutional affairs. 

He holds master’s degrees in European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges and in European studies from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Institute for European Studies).