Ambassador Vincenzo Grassi
Born in Napoli in 1959.
He was awarded a degree in Law at the University of Napoli in 1982, and joined the diplomatic service in 1984.
His first assignments were at the Directorate General for Economic Affairs. Between 1987 and 1990.
Then he was Second and First Secretary in the Embassy of Italy in Egypt (Commercial Office) and then First Commercial Secretary at the Permanent Mission to the EEC in Brussels from 1990 to 1994.
Once back in Italy, he was assigned to the Directorate General for Economic Affairs and
took part in the preparation of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference. From 1998 to 2002 he was Press, Cultural and European Affairs Counsellor in Paris. From 2002 to 2004 he was Head of the Task Force for the Presidency of the European Union at the General Directorate for European Integration. In 2004 he was Head of the Office for Legal and Institutional Affairs within the same Directorate General.
From April 2007 to April 2012 he was Deputy Permanent Representative to the European Union. In this capacity, he has negotiated within the Council and in the framework of the legislative procedure with the European Parliament several Regulations and Directives in the following fields: Environment and Climate; Transports, Telecommunications and Energy; Employment, Social Affairs, Health and Costumers Protection; Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space; Agriculture and Fisheries; Education, Youth, Culture and Sport.
From July 2013 to February 2014, he was Head of the Department for European Policies
at the Prime Minister Office (“Presidenza Consiglio dei Ministri”).
From April 2014 to September 2015 he was Senior Advisor in the Department for Country System at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, dealing with the organization and implementation of the “Anno dell’Italia in America Latina”.
From October 2015 to December 2016 he was Ambassador of Italy in Belgium.
From January 2017 to January 2021 he was Secretary General of the European University Institute in Florence.
From January 2021 to January 2023 he was Senior Advisor at the Department for European Union
From 30 January 2023 he is the Permanent Representative of Italy to the International Organizations in Geneva.
He speaks fluently English and French. He understands Spanish.
In 1985-1986 he attended the Cycle Etranger of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in
Paris.
He was Senior Fellow at the Harvard University (Center for International Affairs) in 1996-97