Jean-Christophe Belliard

Jean-Christophe Belliard has been Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the European External Action Service since 2016. He studied at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations, Paris.

In 1984 Belliard joined the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was posted as Second Secretary in Khartoum, Sudan from 1985-87, before returning to Paris to work for the Sudan Desk in the Africa Directorate from 1988-91. From 1991-94 he was First Secretary, then Second Counsellor, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, where he represented France at the Arusha peace talks on Rwanda and during Operation Turquoise.

In 1995, Belliard moved to Washington DC to serve as Press Director and Spokesperson at the French embassy. From 1997-2001 he was Consul General in Cape Town, South Africa, after which he returned to Paris as Deputy Director for Africa, 2001-04. During this time he also lectured at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

From 2004-08 he was Javier Solana’s personal envoy for Africa at the EU emissary for Zimbabwe, Brussels, after which he was appointed French Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, 2009-12, and then French Ambassador to Madagascar, 2012.

Most recently he was Director for Africa and the Indian Ocean at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2012-16, before being appointed Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service in September 2016.

He has been awarded officier de l’ordre national du mérite and a chevalier de l’ordre de la légion d’honneur.