Much lauded negotiator for the EU
Helga Schmid is the new Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS).
Helga Schmid assumed one of the most important diplomatic posts in Brussels at the beginning of September 2016: she is the new Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS). The EEAS maintains the European Union’s diplomatic relations with other countries and supports the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, in implementing EU foreign policy. When the EEAS was set up in 2010, Helga Schmid was appointed as its Deputy Secretary General.
The negotiations on a nuclear agreement with Iran are considered Schmid’s diplomatic masterpiece. Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also referred to Schmid’s role in these talks when he congratulated her on the appointment: “It is due not least to her skill, creativity and determination that we did not give up during the many years of negotiations with Iran and kept finding new approaches which ultimately led to the Vienna agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme last summer.”
