Matti Maasikas new EU Ambassador to Ukraine
Matti Maasikas has been appointed new European Union Ambassador to Ukraine. Maasikas is currently undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Maasikas will start his work in Ukraine in the autumn, replacing the current EU envoy Hugues Mingarelli of France, according to Ukrainian portal Evropeiska Pravda.
The appointment is a normal rotation unconnected with events in either Ukraine or the recent European elections, the portal says.
Both Maasikas and the foreign ministry were unable to comment on the appointment, citing diplomatic practice, ERR's online news in Estonian reports. As a rule, diplomatic appointments would be made public once their nomination has been consented to by the nation they are being appointed to.
Maasikas and around 50 other EU representatives would generally be announced by the union's High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
Mogherini and the European External Action Service (EEAS) select EU representatives from the pool off officials and diplomats of all member states.
The Russian-language portal of Evropeiska Pravda noted that Maasikas was head of the Estonian representation to the EU when the union took a strong line on 2014 annexation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation, and ongoing warfare in eastern Ukraine involving Russian-backed guerillas, as well as the imposition of sanctions on Russia.
Matti Maasikas CV
- 2001-2005: Estonian Ambassador to Finland.
- 2005–2008: Secretary General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- 2009-2010: Worked at the office of European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn.
- 2010: Worked on team of advisers to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
- 2011-2016: Permanent Estonian Representative to the EU.
- 2017: to present: Estonian Special Representative to the EU.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte