Reinhard Schäfers

Born 27 May 1950, H.E. Reinhard Schäfers passed the German State Law Exam in 1975, and attended the École Nationale d'Administration in Paris (1975-76). In 1977 he joined the Federal Foreign Office. He was Second Secretary in the Directorate-General for Economic Affairs at the FFO (1979), before serving as Consul at the Embassy of Germany in Prague (1979-82), and as Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Germany in Mogadiscio (1982-85). He returned to the Federal Chancellor's Office to take up the duties of First Secretary and Counselor for East-West Relations, Disarmament and Security (1985-88). He was Counselor responsible for German-Soviet Relations, Foreign policy and Security at the Embassy of Germany in Moscow from 1988 to 1991. Back at the Federal Foreign Office he served as Counselor in the Soviet Union Division (1991-92), then took over as Head of the Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe Division at the Federal Chancellor's Office (1992-98). He held the duties of Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Germany in France (1998-2000), German Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Western European Union (2000), and German Ambassador and Permanent Representative on the EU Political and Security Committee (2001). H.E. was then the German Ambassador to Ukraine (2006) before being named to serve as the Ambassador of Germany to France (2008-2012) and to Italy (2012-2015). He is now member of the advisory board of the international fair in Bozen and WHS Ambassador.