EU Ambassador returns to UVic to discuss refugee crisis

EU Ambassador, Marie-Anne Coninsx, returns to UVic on Tuesday, October 27. The Ambassador will deliver a talk, Refugees: a big challenge for solidarity in Europe and the world. There will be an opportunity for students and the public to ask questions following her talk.

The lecture will take place at 11:30am in DTB A110.

This is a fantastic opportunity for students and the public to hear first-hand from an EU official on how Europe is dealing with the the crisis as it unfolds.

Space is limited, RVSP to eusprog@uvic.ca

A European agenda on migration

The European Commission released an agenda on migration on October 14th, 2015, addressing the European approach to migration and to the refugee crisis.

Biography

Marie-Anne Coninsx is the Ambassador of the European Union to Canada. She began her posting as the European Union's top diplomat in Canada in September 2013, after serving four years as Ambassador of the European Union to Mexico.

Ambassador Coninsx has been an official of the European Union since 1984. She started her career in the European Commission at the Legal Service. During 12 consecutive years, she was Staff Member in the Cabinets of 3 Commissioners, dealing respectively with: External Relations and External Trade; with Internal Market and Relations with the European Parliament (EP); and with Development Policy.

Ambassador Coninsx has an extensive experience dealing with multilateral issues, having served as Minister-Counsellor at the EU Delegation in New York (US) and thereafter in Geneva (CH). Prior to her posting in Mexico, Marie-Anne Coninsx worked at the External Relations Department at HQ, overseeing relations between the European Union and Latin America (from 2004 to 2009).

Ambassador Coninsx studied law at Gent University in Belgium and did post-graduate studies specialising in international law and European law respectively at Cambridge University (UK) and at European University Centre in Nancy (France).

Ambassador Coninsx is Belgian and her interests include painting, travelling and sports. She is fluent in Dutch, French, English, German and Spanish; and understand basics of Portuguese and Italian.