From 1973 until 1976 he was Deputy Head and then Head of Cabinet of Vice- President
Henri Simonet. From 1976 until 1978, he was advisor to
François-Xavier Ortoli,
President of the European Commission. In 1978, he was advisor to President
Roy Jenkins. In 1981, he was advisor to President
Gaston Thorn. From 1981 until 1986, he was Advisor in the Secretariat-General and then in the EU Directorate-General for Development. From 1986 until 1989, he was Head of Division
UNCTAD and Commodities at the Directorate-General for Development. From 1982 until 1992, he was head of the cabinet of EU Commissioner
Karel Van Miert and again from 1995 until 1996. From 1992 until 1994, he was Deputy Director-General of the EU Directorate-General Budgets. From 1996 until 1997 he was Director-General of DG Enterprise Policy, Distributive Trades, Tourism and Cooperatives. From 1997 until 2002, he was Director-General of DG Taxation and Customs Union. From 2002 until 2003, he was Director-General of DG Translation. From 2003 until 2004, he was Director-General of DG
Eurostat. From 2004 to 2007 he was Permanent Representative of the
European Commission to the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and
UNESCO. ==Academic activities ==