In 1988, Maciej Popowski earned his master's degree in German and Dutch language and literature at the
University of Wrocław. He has been educated also at the
University of Siegen (1989–1990;
DAAD scholarship),
Polish Institute of International Affairs (1991), and Akademie Auswärtiger Dienst in
Bonn (1991–1992). Between 1988 and 1991 he was working at the University of Wrocław. In 1991, he joined the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1993, he moved to
Brussels to work at the
Mission of Poland to the European Union at the rank of Second Secretary (1993–1995), First Secretary (1995–1998) and Counsellor (1998–1999). Then, from 2000 he was Deputy Director, and from 2001 Director of the MFA Department of the European Union. He was responsible for relations with the EU Member States and
European institutions, accession negotiations, Intergovernmental Conference 2000,
Common Foreign and Security Policy. In 2001, he returned to the Mission in Brussels to where he was Deputy Head in charge of accession negotiations (focal point for the European Commission and the Permanent Representations of Member States),
European Convention and
Intergovernmental Conference 2004 (contact point), implementation of the
Association Agreement (secretary of the Association Council), preparation of the transition of the mission into a permanent representation, management of the mission (including personnel and administration). Since 2003 he was Deputy Head of Mission – Ambassador, Representative of Poland to the
Political and Security Committee. In 2008, Popowski joined the European institutions. He became Director in the
Directorate-General for Development,
European Commission, being responsible for
Policy Coherence for Development,
aid effectiveness, aid financing, relations with other donors, public communication. Following year, he was promoted Head of Cabinet of the
President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek. Between 2011 and 2015 he was Deputy Secretary-General of the
European External Action Service. Among his chief responsibilities were
Common Security and Defence Policy,
security policy and conflict prevention, development policy,
human rights and democracy, relations with
European Parliament. Since 16 April 2016, he is Deputy Director-General at the Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (
DG NEAR). On 16 September 2020, he became DG NEAR Acting Director-General. == Honours ==