Moderator: Dr. Kalliopi Chainoglou Associate Professor – Department of International & European Studies, University of Macedonia

Helena Dalli Equality Commissioner, European Commission 

Sofia Zacharaki Minister of Social Cohesion & Family

Stelios Angeloudis Mayor of Thessaloniki 

Jean-Marc Berthon French Ambassador for the Rights of the LGBT+ people 

Jean-Marc Berthon was appointed ambassador for the rights of LGBT+ persons on October 26, 2022.
The creation of this position was a commitment made by President Macron during the last presidential
election campaign. The ambassador carries the voice of France in favor of the universal
decriminalization of homosexuality and the respect for all fundamental rights of LGBT+ persons. He
leads advocacy campaigns with foreign governments and international institutions. He is particularly
involved with civil society organizations working on this issue, for which he has set up a fund.

Born in 1966 in the East of France, Jean-Marc Berthon studied philosophy and political science. He is a
graduate of Sciences Po Paris, Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sciences Sociales (EHESS). His career in French diplomacy spans more than 25 years, and has taken him
to Central and Eastern Europe, in particular Croatia and the Czech Republic. He has worked with
Bernard Kouchner when this historic figure of humanitarian action and human rights was Minister of
Foreign Affairs, under whose mandate the first international mobilization in favor of LGBT+ people
took place (conference in Paris, creation of a fund, declaration to the United Nations…).

He was an advisor to President Macron during his first term in office. As part of the Élysée’s diplomatic
team, he was notably in charge of human rights. He worked on the implementation of a feminist
diplomacy, the protection of human rights defenders, the inclusion of LGBT+ people in asylum policies,
and the fight against information manipulation. He was also Chief of Staff to the Minister Delegate for
Citizenship, with whom he contributed to the development of accommodation for LGBT+ refugees,
and to the campaign to ban conversion therapies. In this capacity, he also the welcoming in France of
displaced persons from Ukraine following the Russian aggression of February 2022.
Jean-Marc Berthon speaks French and English. He understands Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Spanish.

Lio Emmanouil General Coordinator of EuroPride 2024