Meet Italy’s Luigi Di Maio, EU’s first envoy for Gulf region

Analysis

Rina Bassist

May 16, 2023

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio seen during the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Weissenhaus Grand Village Resort on May 13, 2022 near Oldenburg in Holstein, Germany. The three-day conference is focusing on the current Russian war in Ukraine. The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Moldova are also attending. (Photo by Georg Wendt - Pool/Getty Images) — Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio speaks on a mobile phone as he awaits for the start of the debate on the government crisis following the resignation of the prime minister in the Senate, in Rome on July 20, 2022. — Georg Wendt - Pool/Getty Images

PARIS – The Council of the European Union appointed former Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio as its special representative (EUSR) for the Gulf region Monday. The new position was created in late 2022 to further a strategic partnership between the EU and Gulf countries.

Discussions on Di Maio's nomination began last November. His candidacy for this new post was sponsored by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, under whom Di Maio served as foreign minister.

The nomination process (from November 2022 until May 2023) was apparently prolonged due to objections by several Italian politicians and other politicians in France.

Early rise in anti-establishment movement

Meet Italy’s Luigi Di Maio, EU’s first envoy for Gulf region

Not everyone in Italy and France is welcoming the nomination of former Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio as the European Union's new envoy to the Gulf region.

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