"A new tone, but not a new course." That is the way Pierre Vimont — executive secretary general of the European External Action Service (EEAS) of the European Union and deputy to Catherine Ashton, high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy — describes the latest round of discussions with Iran.
Recently interviewed in Brussels, Vimont, who is in charge of developing a common external policy for the member states of the European Union (EU), looks back on the discussions that took place Oct. 15-16 in Geneva with Iran, describes the role of the EU in Syria and shares his feelings on the evolution of the situation in Egypt. He provides a clear synthesis of the major actions undertaken at the EU level to address the critical challenges of these three important Middle Eastern countries.
A graduate of the French National School of Administration, Vimont was ambassador, permanent representative of France to the European Union from 1992 to 2002 and then chief of staff to French Foreign Ministers Dominique de Villepin, Michel Barnier and Philippe Douste-Blazy from 2002 to 2007. He served as France's ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2010. As executive secretary general of the EEAS, Vimont is the man behind the wheel of European external policy and implements the foreign policy decisions made by the European Council.
Given the closed relationship between the two banks of the Mediterranean, Vimont is among those who have expressed the most concern at events that take place on the southern side. He is currently supervising EU actions in the Middle East with a particular focus on Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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