Michael Reiterer

Michael Reiterer is Distinguished Professor at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) of the Brussels School of Governance. He is the editor of the CSDS policy brief series.

Michael Reiterer pursued his academic career always in parallel to his diplomatic one at the Austrian and then European service. After graduating as Dr. jur. from the University of Innsbruck, post-graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University/Bologna Centre and the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva were further stepping stones to his habilitation (PhD equivalent) in International Politics at the University of Innsbruck (2005) focussing on EU-Asia relations. EU foreign policy, EU-Asia relations in particular with Japan and Korea, inter-regionalism, security issues, new forms of diplomacy, and human rights are nowadays the main focus of his research, having previously published extensively on international trade law and relations including WTO, trade and environment and the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM). He has taught at various universities in Europe and Asia. In 2022 he was appointed Visiting Professor at two Japanese universities, the Ritsumeikan University/Kyoto and Kobe University.

In September 2020, he retired from the European Diplomatic Service (European External Action Service-EEAS) as Ambassador plenipotentiary and extraordinary of the European Union to the Republic of Korea; previous posts include Ambassador to Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, Deputy Head of Mission/Minister at the EU Delegation to Japan, Minister Counsellor at the Austrian Permanent Representation to the EU, Counsellor at the Austrian Permanent Representation to the GATT, Austrian Deputy Trade Commissioner for West Africa (out of Abidjan/Ivory Coast) and to Japan. In addition, he co-chaired the Joint Group of Trade and Environment Experts at the OECD, served as panellist of the WTO dispute settlement and was a member of the European Economic and Social Committee.

Additional activities

• Adjunct professor for international politics at Webster University, Vienna; Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali "Guido Carli" (LUISS), Rome; University of Innsbruck; Danube University, Krems/Austria.
• Associate Fellow, Global Fellowship Initiative at the  Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), Switzerland
• Member of the Council of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe, Lausanne/Switzerland
• Senior Research Associate, Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies
• Member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Centre for EU-Asia Connectivity, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy (CAPS), Washington D.C.
• Member of the Scientific Committee of the European Forum Alpbach/Austria
• Member of the International Academic Consultative Council of the University of Kobe/Japan until 2020.
• Member of the Council of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe, Lausanne/Switzerland

Distinctions

• Order of Merit in Silver with Star (2018), Government of the Republic of Austria
• Honorary Citizenship of Seoul (2020), Metropolitan Government, Republic of Korea