Preceded by João Vale de Almeida Preceded by João Vale de Almeida Preceded by Peter Carl | President José Manuel Barroso President José Manuel Barroso Succeeded by Catherine Day | |
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President Romano Prodi
José Manuel Barroso Education Trinity College, Dublin, College of Europe Profiles | ||
David O'Sullivan (born 1953) is an Irish civil servant who serves as the Ambassador of the European Union to the United States and the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. Prior to his post in the United States, he was the chief operating officer of the European Union's diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service (EEAS). He has held a number of high level positions including Head of Cabinet to Romano Prodi and Secretary-General of the European Commission between June 2000 and November 2005. In 2010 he was appointed as Director General for Relex with the responsibility of setting up the EEAS and was appointed the Chief Operating Officer on 1 January 2011.
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Early and personal life
He was born in 1953, in Ireland, and is married with two children. He speaks English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese.
O'Sullivan studied Economics and Sociology at Trinity College Dublin. He graduated in 1975, then going to study at College of Europe in Bruges a year later, where he earned a postgraduate Certificate of Advanced European Studies. He then worked at the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade until 1979 when he entered the European Commission. While at Trinity, he was Auditor and debating Gold medalist of the College Historical Society and winner of the Irish Times debating competition.
European Commission
In the Commission, he served as;
Prodi Commission and Director General for Trade
At the start of the Prodi Commission he was Head of the President's cabinet in 1999 and appointed Secretary-General a year later (in 2000), taking over from Carlo Trojan.
In 2005 he was appointed Director General for Trade where he acted as Chief Negotiator for the Doha Development Round. O'Sullivan also contributed to the launching of numerous bilateral trade negotiations and the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement with South Korea (FTA); he supervised trade defence instruments and led regular trade dialogues with the European Union's major trade partners.
In November 2010 he was made Director-General of the Directorate-General for External Relations with the specific task of preparing for the launch of the new European External Action Service.
EEAS
David O'Sullivan became chief operating officer of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the diplomatic service of the European Union, when it came into existence on 1 January 2011. In this capacity, he contributed to the setting up of the EEAS. O'Sullivan also had lead responsibilities within the EEAS for relations with Asia (including the Strategic Partnerships with China, India, Japan and South Korea), relations with the rest of Europe (including the Eastern Neighbourhood, the Balkans, Russia and Switzerland) and relations with Africa.
O'Sullivan has been appointed to the post of Ambassador to the European Delegation in Washington as of 1 November 2014. He presented his credentials to President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony on 18 November 2014.
Honours & Awards
He is a Vice-President of the College Historical Society (Trinity College, Dublin)
In 1999 he was named European of the Year by the European Movement Ireland.
He was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate from the Dublin Institute of Technology in 2005. In April 2013, O'Sullivan was awarded as Alumnus of the Year by the College of Europe.
He was awarded the EU Transatlantic Business Award by the American Chamber of Commerce in June 2014.
He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin in December 2014.
O'Sullivan is Visiting Professor at the European College of Parma.