Kristian Schmidt, the former Ambassador of the European Union to Myanmar, has taken up the post of Director for Land Transport, replacing Elisabeth Werner.

Mr Schmidt previously served as the Head of the European Union Delegation to Uganda and held several senior positions at the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels. He is a Danish national with extensive experience in development cooperation, security and peacekeeping matters. He speaks Danish, English, French, Italian and German. He studied economics in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Bologna, Italy, as well as in Aix en Provence, France as one of the first ERASMUS students. He also holds a degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Mona Björklund will become Director of the Policy Coordination Directorate on 16 June. Ms Björklund, who is Swedish, is currently a Member of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board at the European Commission, which she joined in 2019 after being Head of Unit of Coordination and Planning at DG MOVE.

Ms Björklund has been with the European Commission since 2003. She previously worked as a Public Affairs Consultant for European Energy & Telecom Consulting.