Gilles Bertrand
 |
Gilles BERTRAND Embajador, jefe de la Delegación de la Unión Europea en Colombia |
Academic qualifications:
1993 | 1994
Institute of Political Sciences – Paris, France
Civil-service option (history, constitutional and administrative law, economics)
1990 | 1993
École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) – Cergy-Pontoise, France
Business school (law, economics, corporate finance)
1989
Baccalauréat (A levels) in mathematics
Lycée Victor Hugo – Marseille, France
Professional experience:
Starting 1 September 2021
Head of Delegation/Ambassador of the European Union to Colombia
08.2019 | 08.2021
Head of Delegation/Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Delegation of the European Union to Syria (based in Beirut, Lebanon)
11.2017 | 07.2019
Head of Syria Conference Team/Policy Adviser, EU External Action Service, Managing Directorate for Middle East and North Africa (EU Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium)
12.2014 | 04.2017
Director-General, École de la deuxième chance de Marseille, a large local NGO comprehensively re-training young adults (800 /year) who dropped out of the school system without qualifications
06.2011 | 11.2014
Sabbatical: independent travelling (Russia, South America, Antarctica, Middle East), fiction writing, Arabic courses (Alexandria, Egypt), occasional articles and conferences on MENA politics
01.2010 | 05.2011
Member of the Cabinet (personal office) of Mr. Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and the Neighbourhood Policy, covering relations with North Africa and the reform of the European Neighbourhood Policy (EU Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium)
01.2007 | 12.2009
Assistant to the Director-General, DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
01.2006 | 12.2006
Assistant to the Deputy Director-General, DG External Relations, European Commission
01.2005 | 12.2005
Desk Officer for Sri Lanka, DG External Relations, European Commission
07.2002 | 08.2004
Head of Political Section, Delegation of the European Commission to Afghanistan
06.2001 | 06.2002
Policy officer for Africa-Caribbean-Pacific political issues, DG External Relations
03.1995 | 05.2001
Member of the European Commission’s Forward Studies Unit
Language skills:
French (mother tongue)
English, Spanish (fluent)
German, Arabic (fair)
Dutch, Italian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish (basic or passive understanding)
