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EUObserver

Barroso aide appointed EU ambassador to Washington

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Wednesday (17 February) nominated Joao Vale de Almeida, a close aide of Mr Barroso, as the EU's new ambassador in Washington, after a gap of over three months in which the executive had no representative in the US capital.

Mr de Almeida, 53, served as head of cabinet of commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and was his personal envoy to the so-called G8 and G20 summits of the most industrialised countries. In June last year, the Portuguese was appointed head of the commission's external relations unit which is about to be bolstered in the form of a diplomatic service under the EU's new rulebook, the Lisbon Treaty. Click here for more.