Michael Leigh

Sir Michael Leigh, PhD, KCMG has been a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States since 2011, working on EU and transatlantic relations. He was an Erskine fellow at the National Centre for Research on Europe at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in January/February 2017 and coordinated and moderated the European and Eurasian Studies Program Distinguished Lecture series at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University in Washington in 2015 and 2016. He took on his current roles after spending more than 30 years in EU institutions, including as a cabinet member for British and Dutch Commissioners and as director in the Task Force for the EU Accession Negotiations. He became director-general for enlargement at the European Commission in 2006 after serving for three years as external relations deputy director-general with responsibility for European Neighbourhood Policy, relations with Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean countries. Earlier he was chief negotiator with the Czech Republic and other candidate countries. He is a member of the Wilton Park Advisory Council (UK) and of Covington’s Public Policy and Government Affairs group.