Alain Le Roy (; born 5 February 1953) is a French diplomat who served as Secretary General of the

European External Action Service The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service in charge of executing all Foreign relations of the European Union, international relations of the European Union. The EEAS is led by the Vice-President of the European Co ...

(EEAS) between 1 March 2015 and 31 August 2016. In this capacity, he was in charge of around 3,400 staff and around 140 delegations in non-EU countries. On 16 June 2016 he announced he would be resigning effective 1 September 2016, being replaced by Helga Schmid, who has been political director of the EEAS and as such, been involved in the Iran nuclear negotiations. Until August 2011, Le Roy served as

Under-Secretary-General An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under-s ...

for Peacekeeping Operations at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. He was appointed to the position in June 2008 by

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

. From December 2011 until August 2014 he served as Ambassador of France to Italy. As of 1 September 2014 he rejoined the

Cour des comptes The ''Cour des Comptes'' (, "Court of Accounts") is France's supreme audit institution, under French law an administrative court. As such, it is independent from the legislative and executive branches of the French Government. However, the 1946 ...

as Conseiller maître.

Early life and education

Le Roy holds a degree in engineering from the Ecole nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris; a Diplôme d’Études Approfondies aster of Advanced Studiesin economics from Paris 1 (Pantheon-Sorbonne University), and an Agrégation d'économie et gestion. He also has completed the program for senior managers in Government at the Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Career

Early career

Le Roy worked at French oil and gas company Total for ten years and entered public service in 1990 as deputy prefect of the

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; , ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 Member state of the European Union, EU member states (i ...

, a project devised by

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

, France’s president at the time, to deepen relations between the EU and the countries of the region. In December 2007, he masterminded a declaration issued in Rome by the governments of France, Italy and Spain to reassure Turkey that the union would not affect its membership negotiations with the EU. Between 2005 and 2007, he served as ambassador to

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. Previously, he held several positions in the French

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, including Assistant Secretary for Economic and Financial Affairs and National Coordinator for the

Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe The Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe was an institution aimed at strengthening peace, democracy, human rights and economy in the countries of South Eastern Europe from 1999 to 2008. It was replaced by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) ...

. In his capacity as director for economic affairs between 2002 and 205, he was deputy sherpa for

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

for the 29th G8 summit in

Évian-les-Bains Évian-les-Bains (), or simply Évian (, , or ), is a Communes of France, commune in Eastern France, by the border with Switzerland. It is located in the northern part of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. A high-m ...

in 2003. In 2001 and 2002, Le Roy also acted as the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Special Representative in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, succeeding François Léotard.

Career with the United Nations

Earlier in his career, Le Roy was involved in the works of the

in different capacities. In 1995, he served as Deputy to the United Nations Special Coordinator for

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

and Director of Operations for the restoration of essential public services. He also went on missions for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

. Between 1999 and 2000, he was appointed United Nations Regional Administrator in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

(West Region).

Political positions

During the 2008 Nord-Kivu campaign in

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, Le Roy pushed for more troops in the region, stating that "With so much at stake, the international community simply cannot afford to let the Congo slide into the abyss, the time to act is, and indeed must be, now."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Roy, Alain 1953 births Living people French diplomats Mines Paris - PSL alumni University of Paris alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations French officials of the United Nations