Stefano Sannino

Stefano Sannino has been Secretary General of the European Union External Action Service since 1 January 2021. Previously, he held the post of the Deputy Secretary General for Economic and Global Issues at the EEAS. Prior to that, he was Italy’s Ambassador to Spain and Andorra and Italy’s Permanent Representative to the EU in Brussels. After a period at the Cabinet of the President of the Commission Romano Prodi, Sannino joined the Directorate General for External Relations (2004–2010) as Director for Crisis Management and Representative at PSC, then Director for Latin America, and finally as Deputy Director General for Asia and Latin America. In 2010 he moved to the Directorate General for Enlargement as Deputy Director General and then as Director General until June 2013. Earlier in his career, Ambassador Sannino served as the diplomatic advisor to the Italian prime minister and his personal representative to G8 summits. He has also held the position of Ambassador and Head of the OSCE Mission in Belgrade.