is President of the CSF Foundation. He is also President of the Scientific Council of Istituto Affari Internazionali, of which he was President from 2013 to 2024. A diplomat from 1972 to 2013, he was Permanent Representative of Italy to the European Union in Brussels (2008-13), Chief of Staff (2006-08) and Director General for European Integration (2004-06) at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Previously, he served in New York at the United Nations, in Algiers, Paris and Beijing. He also served as Diplomatic Counsellor of the Vice President of the Italian Council of Ministers (1998).

In June 2014 he was appointed to the post of European Commissioner in the Commission chaired by Manuel Barroso to replace Antonio Tajani, a position he held until the end of the mandate of the Commission on 1 November 2014.

Formerly a Fellow at the Center for International Affairs, Harvard University (1985-86), and Visiting Professor at the Istituto Universitario Orientale of Naples (1989), he has been a professor at the School of Government of LUISS, Rome.
He is the author of many articles and essays on international relations, European affairs and political affairs.