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Especially in the post-Russian aggression on Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates is where the world’s attention is focused – because of its energy and security. In November, world leaders will also gather in Dubai for the UN climate conference COP28.

The Czech Republic will become one of the main links between the West and the oil superpower. Lucie Berger, longtime Czech EU official, will serve as EU ambassador in Abu Dhabi from September 1, as she herself confirmed to Seznam Zprávám.

He would thus become one of the highest-ranking Czechs in the twenty-seventh institution. The EU “Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, the European External Action Service (EEAS), will be replaced by a position on the European Commission. He is an expert on international relations and climate change.

Lucie Berger came to Brussels with former European Commissioner Vladimír Špidla.

In the summer, there are diplomatic rotations around the world. And that also applies to EU diplomacy. “I am preparing positions, I start on September 1,” Berger wrote to Seznam Zprávám. According to his statement, he was only able to provide more detailed information regarding his activities and plans after taking up his new position.

Until recently, Lucie Berger worked as policy coordinator in the European Commission’s multilateral arm. But prior to that, he spent seven years in various positions at ESVA – at the EU representative in Saudi Arabia, he headed the economics and trade section from 2015 to 2018, he also represented the 27th in Geneva at the UN and other local international organisations. .

Berger describes himself on social media as an expert on international relations, diplomacy and negotiations “with a passion for climate, sustainability and the Middle East”. After all, he’d been faithful to the climate in the European Union ten years ago, when – certainly not in the Czech Republic – it didn’t resonate the way it does today.

According to his biography, he came to Brussels with former European Commissioner Vladimír Špidla in 2006 and worked in its communications team. Prior to that, he worked briefly at the Egyptian embassy in Prague.

Two more Czechs are currently active in EU diplomacy at ambassadorial level – he is Czech diplomat Tomáš Szunyog, who represents the EU in the hot ground of Kosovo, while Lucie Samcová works in cold northern Iceland. The European Defense Agency, headed by Czech diplomat and former Minister of Defense Jiří Šedivý, is subordinate to the European Union “Foreign Minister” Josep Borrell.

In the past, three other diplomats served as EU ambassadors, most notably Jana Hybášková, who headed the EU mission in Iraq from 2011 to 2015, when the country was going through civil war. Hybášková returned to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and currently heads the personnel department.

The representation of Czechs in EU institutions has long been one of the weaknesses of Czech diplomacy and promotion at the age of twenty-seven. According to proportional calculations, Czechs should make up about three percent of the staff, but according to available figures, their actual representation is only half.

But it’s not just about the Czech Republic. Last year, the Brussels website Euractiv cited an analysis by the European Democracy Consultants firm, which showed that Middle and Eastern countries Europe for a long time, they lacked fair representation in European institutions. Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian or Romanian “crushed” for that matter by officials and diplomats from Western and Southern Europe. They occupied 70 percent of new leadership positions in European institutions in 2019-2021 alone.

The Czech government wants to use the Czech Republic’s good name in Brussels after last year’s EU presidency. At the same time, Czech diplomacy lobbied for geographical aspects to be taken into account in the selection procedure in the EU.