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- Director, European Commission - DG COMM
- Richard Kühnel is the Director for Representation and Communication in Member States within the Directorate-General for Communication of the European Commission. He is responsible for the Commission’s Representations and networks in all EU Member States, as well as for outreach and engagement with citizens across the Union. This included the Conference of the Future of Europe and its follow-up.
In 2004, Richard Kühnel joined the European Commission as Member of the Cabinet of the EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Between 2008 and May 2014, he was Head of Representation of the European Commission in Vienna, Austria, and later on, he held the same function in Berlin, Germany, until August 2019.
Before joining the European Commission, Richard Kühnel served in the national diplomatic service of Austria. He served at the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo and at the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations in New York. In 2003, he returned to Vienna, first as an advisor to the Director-General for Development Cooperation and then as a member of the Cabinet of the Foreign Minister.
Richard Kühnel is a lawyer by training, with an emphasis on international and European law.
