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Ms. Lebl's presentation will include an overview of the EU's present and future: current perceptions in Europe, the prospects for the Constitutional Treaty, the current integration of new members, plus the prospects for further expansion (Turkey, Ukraine). She will also address what the EU has done, is doing and may do in the East (the Israeli-Palestinian issue related to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran).

Leslie S. Lebl is a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council of the United States and Principal of Lebl Associates. A writer, lecturer and consultant on political, security and military matters, she is a former Foreign Service Officer with particular expertise in European political and defense issues, Balkan peacekeeping and Russian politics and economy. While in the Foreign Service, Ms. Lebl served as Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels and as the Political Advisor to the Commander of Stabilization Forces (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. During and after her 24-year career in the State Department, Ms. Lebl has spoken on a variety of foreign policy subjects at Wilton Park, the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London, the NATO Winter Seminar in Moscow, the NATO School in Oberammergau, the College of Bruges, the Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace Course at the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Central European University in Budapest. Her topics have included transatlantic relations, European security issues, peacekeeping in the Balkans, civil-military cooperation in crisis management operations, and the role of the European Union in the Balkans.

Her publications include analyses of European defense policy for the Cato Institute; various aspects of U.S.-European relations for Orbis; U.S.-European cooperation in combating terrorism in Policy Review and she is currently working on a monograph about advancing U.S. interests with the European Union, pursuant to a grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Ms. Lebl is a fellow of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and a member of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Women in International Security. She speaks French, German, Russian, Polish and Spanish. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College (B.A. in history, 1972) and received an M.A. in foreign affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1979.