S.E. M. Michael Matthiessen,

Ambassadeur, Chef de la Délégation de de l'Union européenne en Suisse

et la Principauté du Liechtenstein.

Before taking up his duties in Bern, Michael Matthiessen was Principal Advisor in the Asia and Pacific Department of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels, responsible for the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). In this capacity he was also the Alternate Senior Official for the EU in ASEM and the EU Governor in the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).
Michael Matthiessen looks back to a diplomatic career of over 30 years, the last 17 years in senior positions in the European institutions. He joined the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union in 1999 as a Head of Unit in the 'Policy Unit' of the High Representative, responsible for the Situation Centre and civilian crisis management. From 2001 to 2004 he was Director in the Council Secretariat responsible for civilian crisis management. He then became the Personal Representative of the High Representative for Human Rights from 2005 to 2007 and for Parliamentary Affairs from 2007 to 2009. With the creation under the EU's Lisbon Treaty of the European External Action Service in 2011 he became Director for Parliamentary Affairs in the EEAS. In the academic year 2012/2013, Michael Matthiessen was European Union Visiting Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
Prior to joining the European institutions, Michael Matthiessen was a diplomat in the Danish Foreign Ministry from 1982 to 1999. He served as Head of Department for European Affairs in the MFA in Copenhagen from 1997 to 1999 and as Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EU in Brussels from 1992 to 1997 (press spokesman, CFSP counsellor and ANTICI). He was the Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of Denmark from 1988 to 1991 and seconded as Deputy Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General of NATO in Brussels from 1985 to 1987. He was 1st Secretary of Embassy at the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EC in Brussels from 1987 to 1988 and served in the MFA in Copenhagen from 1982 to 1985 and again briefly in 1992.
Michael Matthiessen holds a Masters' degree in Political Science from the University of Aarhus in Denmark (1982) and a Diplôme d'Études Approfondies (DEA) in international relations from Sciences Po Paris (1981). He is a Marshall Memorial Fellow (Fellowship with the German Marshall Fund of the US summer 1991) and a Knight 1st Class of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog. In addition to his mother tongue Danish, he is fluent in English and French and speaks German and some Italian.

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