Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut (born 1960) is a German diplomat currently serving as the Head of the EU Delegation to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. He was previously German Ambassador to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

from 2015 to 2020. Before that, he served as the chief adviser for European affairs to the

German Chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ger ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

Early life and education

Meyer-Landrut was born in 1960 and was awarded his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, examining the role of France in

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

in 1988.

Career

In 1987, Meyer-Landrut joined the German foreign office under the third cabinet of the conservative chancellor

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

. Between 1990 and 1993, the diplomat served in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, leading the German negotiations of the

Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was negotiated and concluded during the last years of the Cold War and established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe (from the Atlan ...

, and advised on German foreign affairs in Brussels thereafter (until 1995). From 1995 to 1999 Meyer-Landrut was deputy chief of the central ministerial office in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, responsible for the

Amsterdam Treaty The Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; i ...

and the

Common Foreign and Security Policy The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union (EU) for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, whic ...

of the European Union among other things attached to that portfolio. Between 1999 and summer 2002, Meyer-Landrut served as press spokesperson of the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union under the social democratic–green Schröder administration and was appointed spokesperson of the president of the

Convention on the Future of Europe The Convention on the Future of the European Union, also known as the European Convention, was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration. Inspired by the Philadelphia Convention that led to ...

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...

, the convention's president and former president of France (1974–81). Between September 2003 and April 2006, he advised as leading official on European affairs in the

Federal Foreign Office , logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg , logo_width = 260 px , image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg , picture_width = 300px , image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building , headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...

and joined the German Chancellery, advising on the same topic, in May of the same year. From February 2011 until mid-2015, Mayer-Landrut served as chief adviser to Merkel on European affairs, thereby succeeding

Uwe Corsepius Uwe Corsepius (born 9 August 1960) is a German diplomat, and former Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. He was succeeded by Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen. Early life and education Uwe Corsepius was born in Berlin, Germany. In 1984 ...

. In July 2015, Meyer-Landrut succeeded

Susanne Wasum-Rainer Susanne Wasum-Rainer (born 31 July 1956) is a former German diplomat who has been serving as Germany's Ambassador to Israel between 2018 and 2022. Early life and education Born in Mainz, she passed her Abitur there in 1975. She started to stud ...

as German Ambassador to

. In 2018, Foreign Minister

Heiko Maas Heiko Josef Maas (; born 19 September 1966) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs (2018–2021) and as the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protectio ...

vetoed Merkel's plan to appoint Meyer-Landrut as Germany's Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels.

Other activities

* Jacques Delors Institute Berlin, Member of the Advisory Board * Broader European Leadership Agenda (BELA), Member of the Circle of Active Supporters

Personal life

Meyer-Landrut is married to a Frenchwoman and father of four children. He is the nephew of

Andreas Meyer-Landrut Andreas Meyer-Landrut (born 31 May 1929) is a former German diplomat. He was West Germany's ambassador to the Soviet Union in Moscow from 1980 to 1983 and again from 1987 to 1989. He also served as the chief of staff to the office of the Presi ...

, head of the

Bundespräsidialamt The Bundespräsidialamt (Office of the Federal President) is a federal agency (German: "oberste Bundesbehörde") of the Government of Germany assisting the President of Germany. The office building is situated beneath Bellevue Palace in Tierga ...

under former German president

Richard von Weizsäcker Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobilit ...

(1984–94), and first cousin once removed of singer

Lena Meyer-Landrut Lena Johanna Therese Meyer-Landrut (; born 23 May 1991), also known by the mononym Lena, is a German singer. She rose to fame after representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, winning the contest with her song "Satellite". ...

.
Lena Meyer-Landruts Onkel wird Merkel-Berater
' In: ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'', 16 February 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer-Landrut, Nikolaus Ambassadors of Germany to France People of Baltic German descent Living people 1966 births German people of Estonian descent