Michael LeighConsultant and Senior Adviser, German Marshall Fund, Brussels, Belgium; Former Director-General of the European Commission on Enlargement (2006-2011)
Part of the European Studies Seminar SeriesSir Michael is senior adviser to the German Marshall Fund (GMF) in Brussels. GMF aims to promote trans-Atlantic and wider international cooperation on foreign policy issues. He is a board member of the Salzburg Global Seminar, Wilton Park, and the Foundation for Effective Governance (Kiev).
His research and writing focus in particular on the future of the EU and the eurozone, enlargement and eastern partnership, particularly Ukraine, Turkey's relations with the EU and their common neighborhood, Europe's response to political change in the Mediterranean and Middle East, and energy questions in the eastern Mediterranean. He also has an interest in the growing international role of China and Brazil.
Sir Michael became director-general for enlargement in 2006 after serving for three years as external relations deputy director-general with responsibility for European Neighborhood Policy, relations with Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus, Central Asia, Middle East and the Mediterranean countries. Earlier he was chief negotiator with the Czech Republic and other candidate countries.
He took on his current role after more than thirty years in EU institutions, including as a cabinet member for various Commissioners and as director in the Task Force for the EU Accession Negotiations. He contributed to the development of the single market and the common fisheries policy.
He began his career as assistant professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy and lecturer in international relations at the University of Sussex. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from M.I.T.
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