NATO's Parlamentariske Forsamling 2014-15 (1. samling), Forsvarsudvalget 2014-15 (1. samling), Det Udenrigspolitiske Nævn 2014-15 (1. samling)
NPA Alm.del Bilag 6, FOU Alm.del Bilag 59, UPN Alm.del Bilag 139
Offentligt
1507133_0001.png
Michael Zilmer-Johns
Permanent Representative – Denmark
2014
Ambassador Michael Zilmer-Johns, Commander of the Order of the
Dannebrog, was born 19 June 1957 and studied economics at
Copenhagen University and Christian Albrecht University in Kiel.
After graduation in 1982 he began his carrier at the Danish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs working on GATT, EEC accession negotiations with
Spain and Portugal as well as development co-operation with Latin
America, Angola and Mozambique.
From 1985-88 he served as Secretary of Embassy at the Danish EEC representation in
Brussels. Back in Copenhagen he became Secretary of the Corporate Board and
Assistant Private Secretary to Minister for Foreign Affairs Uffe Ellemann-Jensen.
Between 1992 and 1995 he was Head of the EU and Economic Section at the Danish
Embassy in Bonn. After one year as Deputy in the Department for North Africa, the
Middle East and Latin America at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he became
head of the Policy and Planning Department of Danida in 1996.
10 days before the terror attack on 9/11 2001 he was appointed Political Director and
worked intensively during the next two years handling the ensuing crisis i.a. chairing
the EU Political Committee during the Danish EU Presidency in 2002. In 2003 he
became foreign and security advisor to Prime Minister Rasmussen with the Iraq war
 PDF to HTML - Convert PDF files to HTML files
and the EU Constitutional Treaty among key challenges. In 2005 he returned to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs as State Secretary for Foreign and European Affairs. His
responsibilities covered the EU, OSCE, Denmark’s strategic partnerships with the US,
Russia and China, other bilateral relations as well as security, including NATO and
Danish participation in military operations. He was the Danish Sherpa during the
negotiation of the Lisbon Treaty, chaired the Danish EU-Committee that co-ordinates
Danish positions on all EU-affairs and often represented the Danish Government at
EU ministerial meetings.
In 2013 he was seconded to the European External Action Service as advisor on
security and defence.
Since1 October 2014 he has served as Danish Ambassador to NATO.
Ambassador Zilmer-Johns is married to Danish PSC-ambassador Lisbet Zilmer-Johns
and has 4 children.
Publications: Internationale forhold (International Relations), Erhversøkonomisk
Forlag 1986