Getting to Know the European Union: France and Germany
This discussion with Pierre Vimont, Ambassador of France to the United States, and Klaus Scharioth, Ambassador of Germany to the United States, moderated by Alan Berger, Senior Editorial Writer at the Boston Globe, took place on October 10, 2007. It continues a series of debates with European Ambassadors, organized by the Institute for Human Sciences at Boston University with the support of the European Commission Delegation in Washington DC.
Pierre Vimont was appointed Ambassador of France to the United States by President Nicolas Sarkozy on August 1, 2007. Mr. Vimont joined the Foreign Service in 1977. He was posted in London from 1978 to 1981 and then spent the next four years with the Press and Information Office at the Quai d’Orsay. From 1985 to 1986 he was seconded to the Institute for East-West Security in New York. Returning to Europe, he held a variety of appointments, including deputy director general of the entire Cultural, Scientific and Technical Relations Department from 1996 to 1997 and director of European Cooperation from 1997 to 1999. He was ambassador and permanent representative of France to the European Union from 1999 to 2002 and until August he served chief of staff to the minister of foreign affairs.
Klaus Scharioth served as State Secretary in the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin from November 2002 until March 2006 prior to becoming Germany’s Ambassador to the United States. He entered the German Foreign Service in 1976, and has held positions at the German Embassy in Quito and the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations in New York. He served as Political Director and head of the Political Directorate-General from 1999 to 2002 and Head of the International Security and North America Directorate from 1998 to 1999. He was also Head of the Defense and Security Policy from 1996 to 1997 and Director of the Private Office to the NATO Secretary-General in Brussels from 1993 to 1996.
Links:
Embassy of France in the United States
Embassy of Germany in the United States
The EU at a Glance – the History of the European Union
