In 1990 Corsepius became a civil servant in the
Federal Ministry of Economy and Labour. From 1992, he worked at the
International Monetary Fund in Washington. From 1994 he was an official in the
Federal Chancellery in Berlin, at first under
Chancellor Helmut Kohl, then under successor
Gerhard Schröder. When Chancellor
Angela Merkel assumed her office in November 2005, Corsepius was in charge of economic aspects of European integration and was negotiating the EU's 2007-13 budget. Shortly after, Merkel promoted him to replace Reinhard Silberberg as head of Department 5 (European Policy). Subsequently, Corsepius coordinated the German European policy between 2005 and 2011, including the preparations for Germany's presidency of the EU in the first half of 2007 as well as the drafting of the
Berlin Declaration. From February 2011, he served as interim advisor on economic and financial policy and as
G8 sherpa to Merkel, following his predecessor
Jens Weidmann's move to become president of the
Deutsche Bundesbank. In late 2009, Corsepius was chosen by the Heads of state or Government (
European Council) to become the new
Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union for the period from 26 June 2011 to 30 June 2015. He succeeded to Frenchman
Pierre de Boissieu in 2011. Catalogued as a "gruff" person, he is seen with critical eyes in Brussels, because he has "little understanding of the interests and needs of others". Given the fact that
Klaus Welle, another German, is the Secretary General of the European Parliament, in 2011, two Germans were concurrently in the administration of the two EU legislative chambers. Corsepius's successor as a Director of European Affairs in the Chancellery was
Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut. In a 2015 reshuffle, Meyer-Landrut was made
German Ambassador to France and Corsepius resumed his position as chief advisor on European affairs to Chancellor Merkel. In 2015, news media reported that Corsepius was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the European Union who are not allowed to enter the country. ==References==