Marc Otte

Biography

Ambassador Marc Otte is a Belgian diplomat, who has served in Washington DC and Kinshasa (DRC) and was Consul General in Los Angeles, as well as Ambassador to Israel. He was also Director for strategic affairs and disarmament and Director for policy planning at the Belgian MFA. From 1999 to 2003, he was Advisor for security and defence policy to the High Representative for EU foreign and security policy, and from 2003 to 2011, EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process. He was Director General of the Egmont Institute from 2013 to 2017.

He is currently Belgian Special Envoy for Syria and Vice-President of the European Institute for Peace.

He has written several articles and contributed to books on European defence and security, as well as on the Middle East.

Publications

• Syria, the Middle East and the War in Ukraine Commentaries (6-09-2022)
• Geopolitical impact of the US exit from Afghanistan on the conflict in Syria and in the Middle East Commentaries (14-10-2021)
• The EU-MENA partnership: time for a reset Security Policy Briefs (4-02-2021)
• Reviving the Security Function: The EU’s Path to Save the JCPOA Security Policy Briefs (24-07-2019)
• Syrië vraagt om een meer strategisch Europa External publications (10-10-2018)
• The quest for a regional order in the Middle East Security Policy Briefs (12-02-2018)
• The Greater Middle East and the Mediterranean five years from now Commentaries (29-10-2015)
• The EU at a crossroad Commentaries (27-08-2015)
• Taking EU-Iran relations beyond the nuclear file External publications (30-03-2015)
• For Europe, Iran is more than the nuclear problem Commentaries (20-11-2014)