Els Bruggeman

Els Bruggeman is Head of Policy and Enforcement at Euroconsumers, a leading consumer cluster that gathers five national consumer organisations: Test Achats (Belgium), Altroconsumo (Italy), OCU (Spain), Deco Proteste (Porugal) and Proteste (Brazil). Together they represent almost 1,5 million consumers. Based at Test Achats, Els is responsible for the coordination of all policy related issues, with a specific focus on digital and sustainability, and the joint enforcement cases, e.g. the class actions against Volkswagen (Dieselgate) and Apple (premature obsolescence) that were launched in Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Els joined the consumer movement in 2014 when she started working as EU Public Affairs advisor for the Belgian consumer organisation Test Achats/Test Aankoop. Before she was active for more than 10 years in the political world, both as policy advisor and spokesperson i.a. for the Belgian minister of consumer protection. Els Bruggeman has master degrees in both History and Law, and advanced masters in both International Politics and Conflict & Development Studies. She is a member of the Executive Board of BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation.