The Diplomat
Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner Cousteau will be the new director of the Cabinet of the State Secretary for the European Union, Fernando Sampedro, as The Diplomat learned from diplomatic sources.
Díez-Hochleitner will replace Miguel Alonso Berrio – who will soon be appointed Bulgarian ambassador – and will have to adapt to the work habits of the Secretary of State who alternates his work between Madrid and Brussels, to the point that, according to consulted sources, has an office in the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU, where he spends many days.
Fernando Sampedro has chosen to choose to lead his Cabinet a diplomat who was already working in the State Secretariat for the EU and who in previous years has been assigned to the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union in Brussels. Furthermore, between 2011 and 2012 he was seconded as a national expert in the European External Action Service.
Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner entered the Diplomatic Career in 2003 and has also been deputy director general of Public Diplomacy and general director of Foreign Promotion at the Madrid City Council. Likewise, he held the second position in charge of the Spanish Embassy in El Salvador.