Miguel Berger (born 14 January 1961 in Madrid, Spain) is a German diplomat and has been German Ambassador to the United Kingdom in London since May 2022. He was State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office from 2020 to 2021.
Miguel Berger (born 14 January 1961 in Madrid, Spain) is a German diplomat and has been German Ambassador to the United Kingdom in London since May 2022. He was State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office from 2020 to 2021.
Berger studied economics [1] and joined the German diplomatic service in 1988. After his training, he worked from 1990 to 1993 as a consultant for the German minority in Romania at the German Embassy in Bucharest. From 1993 to 1997, he was a press and political officer at the German Embassy in Mexico City. He then moved to the headquarters of the Federal Foreign Office. From 1997 to 1999, he worked there as a consultant in the Parliamentary and Cabinet Division in Bonn, before becoming deputy director of the same division in Berlin at the Haus am Werderschen Markt from 1999 to 2002. From there, he moved to New York, where he was deputy director of the Economic Department at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations until 2004. Berger then became Head of the German Representation Office in the Palestinian Territories before moving back to the Parliamentary and Cabinet Division in 2006, this time as Director. From June 2010 to July 2013, he was deputy director at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York and served as Chairman of the Budget and Administration Committee of the 67th United Nations General Assembly from September 2012 to September 2013. During this period, Germany was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for two years.
In August 2013, Berger became Commissioner for Global Issues and Foreign Energy and Climate Policy in Berlin, but changed departments in July 2014 and became Regional Commissioner for the Middle East and Maghreb. Finally, in July 2016, he became Director of the Department for Economic Affairs and Sustainable Development, where he was responsible for Instex, among other things. [2]
He was appointed State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office on May 4, 2020. [3] His predecessor Andreas Michaelis moved to London as ambassador. As State Secretary, Berger was responsible for the two political departments as well as the coordination of German foreign policy in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region and the Crisis Commissioner. [4] [5] He was criticized for his handling of the evacuation of the German embassy in Kabul after the Fall of Kabul to the Taliban. [6]
Shortly after taking office as Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock decided in December 2021 to dismiss Berger and reinstate his predecessor Andreas Michaelis, former German ambassador to London, as State Secretary. [6] Berger in turn became ambassador to the United Kingdom and was received by Queen Elizabeth II on July 7, 2022, to present his credentials. [7]
He was described by Der Spiegel as "close to the SPD (Social Democrats)" and as a "Middle East expert". [2] [6]
The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) is a Central European country and member of the European Union, G4, G7, the G20, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It maintains a network of 229 diplomatic missions abroad and holds relations with more than 190 countries. As one of the world's leading industrialized countries it is recognized as a major power in European and global affairs.
Alliance 90/The Greens, often simply referred to as Greens, is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens and Alliance 90. The Greens had itself merged with the East German Green Party after German reunification in 1990.
The federal minister for foreign affairs is the head of the Federal Foreign Office and a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The current office holder is Annalena Baerbock. Since 1966, the minister for foreign affairs has often also simultaneously held the office of vice-chancellor of Germany.
The Federal Foreign Office, abbreviated AA, is the foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with the European Union. It is a cabinet-level ministry. Since December 2021, Annalena Baerbock has served as Foreign Minister, succeeding Heiko Maas. The primary seat of the ministry is at the Werderscher Markt square in the Mitte district, the historic centre of Berlin.
Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr was a German SPD politician.
Niels Annen is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 2021. He served as Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office from 2018 to 2021 in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Relations between Afghanistan and Germany date back to the late 19th century and have historically been strong. 100 years of "friendship" were celebrated in 2016, with the Afghan President calling it a "historical relationship".
Germany–North Korea relations are the bilateral relations between Germany and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. During the Cold War, East Germany maintained diplomatic relations only with North Korea, while West Germany maintained diplomatic relations only with South Korea. East Germany ceased to exist upon German reunification, which meant that diplomatic relations no longer existed between Germany and North Korea. The two countries appointed protecting powers to represent their interests in the other country, Sweden being the protecting power for Germany, and China being the protecting power for North Korea.
Germany–Qatar relations are the bilateral relations between Germany and the State of Qatar. Relations were first commenced in 1973.
Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens party serving as Germany's minister for foreign affairs since 2021.
Emily Margarethe Haber is a German diplomat. She served as State Secretary from 2011 to 2018: from 2011 to 2013, at the Federal Foreign Office and from 2014 to 2018, at the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
The Embassy of Germany in Kabul was the diplomatic mission of the Federal Republic of Germany in Afghanistan. The Consulate General also operates in Mazar-i-Sharif as a second German mission in the country. The Embassy in Kabul is located in the diplomatic district of the capital on Wazir Akbar Khan, Mena 6 in Kabul. The current Ambassador is Axel Zeidler.
Andreas Michaelis is a German diplomat who served as State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office in the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 3 January 2022, and was previously the German Ambassador to the Court of St James from May 2020 until January 2022. Since August 2023, he has been the German Ambassador to the United States.
Birgitt Ory is a German diplomat. From 2019 till 2022 she has served as the German Ambassador to Nigeria. Ory was the first woman to serve as Director General of the German Institute Taipei in Taiwan, a post she held from 2008 to 2011.
Germany–Morocco relations date back to the 19th century. The German Foreign Office describes Morocco as a "central partner of the European Union and Germany in North Africa," and Germany is an important trading partner for Morocco. In the past, however, relations have not always been entirely free of tension.
Rüdiger König, is a German diplomat who served as the Permanent Representative of Germany to NATO from 2020 until 2023.
Hubert Jager is a German diplomat. He has been serving as the German ambassador to Yemen since August 2021. He was the ambassador of Germany to Liberia from 2016.
Antje Leendertse is a German diplomat. She has been Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations since September 2021. She was Political Director at the Federal Foreign Office from April 2018 to February 2019, then State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office under Minister Heiko Maas until mid-2021.
Beate Grzeski is a German diplomat. She has been Ambassador of Germany to Australia since September 2023 and as such heads the German Embassy in Canberra.
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