Biography of Jim Cloos

Jim (Jean-Pierre) Cloos was born on 19 August 1955 in Luxembourg. He holds a BA First Class honours degree from the University of Reading in linguistics and the Russian language, in the pursuit of which he also spent a year (1977-78) studying at the University of Voronezh, USSR. He also holds a DEA (Lauréat) on the USSR and Eastern Europe from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, and a DESS in International Trade from Paris IX Dauphine.

In 1981 Jim Cloos began his career as a diplomat representing Luxembourg, before moving to Brussels in 1985 where he first worked in the European Commission in the cabinet of the Commissioner for Energy Nicolas Mosar. In 1987 he joined the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the EU, where he stayed until 1992. In that capacity he contributed to the negotiations and drafting process (under the Luxembourg Presidency in the first half of 1991) that ultimately led to the signing of the Maastricht Treaty.

In 1993, he returned to the European Commission as head of the cabinet of the Commissioner for Agriculture (René Steichen), and in 1995 he became the head of the cabinet of the President and the President’s Sherpa for the G8, holding those positions until the end of the Santer Commission in 1999.

In 2001 he joined the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU as Director for relations with the Americas, the United Nations, and the external aspects of the fight against terrorism. In 2006 he took the post of Director for General Policy Questions, before becoming in 2010 Director-General for General and Institutional Policy, the position he kept until his retirement on 31 January 2021. Among his key responsibilities in both these positions was the support to the meetings of the European Council; he was one of the rare civil servants to be present in the room during European Council meetings.  

Currently he is the Secretary-General of TEPSA (Trans European Policy Studies Association) and a Senior Associate Fellow at the Egmont Institute. He is also a member of the board of the EPC (European Policy Centre).