Dimitris Kourkoulas was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, responsible for European Affairs and Economic Diplomacy, from June 2012 till January 2015. During his mandate he was also responsible for the Greek Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU in the first semester of 2014.
From 2010-2012 he was Director in DG Enlargement of the European Commission, responsible for the EU strategy and policy of Enlargement in the Western Balkans, Turkey, and Iceland.
In 2006 he was appointed Ambassador-Head of the EU Delegation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the third largest EU Delegation in the world. Under this capacity he was a member of the Peace Implementation Council, the body responsible for the implementation of the Dayton Peace Treaty in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In 2001 he was appointed Ambassador-Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Bulgaria. During his term in Sofia the negotiations for the accession of Bulgaria into the European Union were completed. At the same time he was responsible for the implementation of the EU financial assistance programs for Bulgaria which amounted to over 300 million Euros per annum.
In 1997 he was appointed Ambassador-Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Lebanon, the first ambassador of the European Commission after the end of the war.
In 1981 he joined the European Commission as a permanent official working on issues related to foreign affairs and the enlargement process. Between 1987 and 1988 he was seconded to the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an expert on EEC- Cyprus and EEC – Turkey relations. From 1989 to 1992 he was a member of the Cabinet of the Greek Commissioner Vaso Papandreou responsible for foreign affairs and relations with the European Parliament. From 1992 to 1997 he was Head of the European Commission’s Political Relations Department for Central and Eastern European countries.
In 2016 he established the Greek publishing company DIAMETROS PUBLICATIONS.
Dimitris Kourkoulas was born in Athens on the 29th of December 1954. He graduated from the Law School of the University of Athens in 1977. He continued his postgraduate studies on Administrative and Economic Law at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne in Germany.
He speaks English, French and German.