Thomas Mayr Harting

Thomas Mayr-Harting (born 22 May 1954 in Epsom, Surrey) is an Austrian diplomat. Since November 2015 he has been the Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia in the European External Action Service.

Until October 2015 he was the EU Head of Delegation to the United Nations in New York City. Before taking up this appointment he served as Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations in New York between December 2008 and October 2011. In this latter capacity he also represented Austria on the United Nations Security Council from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2010. Mayr-Harting was the President of the UN Security Council in November 2009.

Mayr-Harting received his law degree at the University of Vienna in 1977. From 1977 to 1978 he studied European law at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium). In 1978 Mayr-Harting was awarded the Diploma of the Hague Academy of International Law.

He joined the Austrian diplomatic service in 1979. In the course of his career he served, inter alia, with the Austrian Mission to the European Communities in Brussels (1982-1986), the Austrian Embassy in Moscow (1986-1990), the Private Office of the Austrian Foreign Minister (1991-1995) and as Deputy Political Director and Director for Security Policy and Policy Planning (1995-1999). From 1999 to 2003 he was Ambassador of Austria to Belgium and Head of the Austrian Mission to NATO. From 2002 to 2004 Mayr-Harting also was the Special Representative of the Austrian Foreign Minister for the Western Balkans.

Prior to his current appointment Mayr-Harting served as Political Director (Director General for Political Affairs) of the Austrian Foreign Ministry from 2003 to 2008. In 2008 he also chaired the supervisory board of the Austrian Development Agency. Thomas Mayr-Harting is the brother of the historian Henry Mayr-Harting.