Paola is an EU official working primarily on security and defence issues at the European Commission. She conducts legal, policy and financial analyses to ensure a competitive and integrated EU defence industry and in support of the EU’s strategic autonomy. Prior to her work on defence-related legislations (EDF, ASAP), Paola worked as a policy officer in the cybercrime realm.

Committed to supporting gender equality in the field of security, Paola is a mentor to young lawyers in Women in International Security and a key member of the Gender Equality Taskforce. Paola also worked at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels and in addition coordinated various of the International Staff’s diversity and inclusion programmes. When the COVID pandemic began, she became a taskforce member in the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre.

Passionate about music, Paola graduated with full honours from the Conservatory while studying international relations at the University of Milan. She then pursued another five-year degree at the University of Bologna, studying law and writing her thesis on the lack of regulation of sexist advertisements. Paola is planning her PhD studies, having worked in parallel as a researcher and assistant professor in law, co-authoring a book on human rights.