Speakers - 2026 Speakers

Biography

Mariano Votta is responsible for EU Affairs at the Italian NGO Cittadinanzattiva and Director of its EU branch “Active Citizenship Network”. Passionate about health & consumer issues, Mariano has 25 years of experience in advocacy, stakeholder engagement, communication, European Public Affairs & EU funded-projects. Mariano holds a Degree in Political Science and two post-graduate master's degrees in European Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility. He is also a journalist with more than 50 publications in international peer-reviewed journals. He led the political initiative to launch in 2015 at the EU Parliament the Interest Group "EU Patients' Rights & Cross-Border Healthcare," – now at its third mandate - endorsed by more than 100 organisations across Europe and dozens of Members of the European Parliament. In 2016 Mariano won the Efhre International University Excellence Awards on patients’ rights