Researchers

Jo COELMONT

Senior Associate Fellow - Europe in the World Programme

Bio

Brigadier General Jo Coelmont

Brigadier General Jo Coelmont (Belgian Air Force) retired from active duty on 1st April 2008 and joined the reserve forces.
He was the Belgian Permanent Representative to the Military Committee of the European Union and the Western European Union and Military Advisor to the Belgian Ambassador to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union from January 2002 to October 2007.In April 2006 he was elected as Dean of the EUMC.

In 2000 he was assigned to the Private Office of the Minister of Defence as Military Advisor for European and Security Policy in view of the Belgian Presidency of the EU during the second half of 2001.

In 1997 he was appointed to the Royal Defence Institute, first as military professor in the Department of Security and Defence Policy, later as head of the Air Force Department.

Upon graduation from NATO Defence College (Senior Course) in 1996, he became Deputy Military Adviser to the WEU Ambassador during the Belgian Presidency.

In 1993 he graduated from the Belgian Royal Defence College (GS, with highest honours and award of the CHOD for best thesis: “Assessment of the crisis management on Yugoslavia”) and subsequently was assigned to the Joint Staff - International Relations and Defence Policy Branch (desk officer for NATO, Central and Eastern Europe).

He began his career in the Air Force in 1974 where he held several functions at the level of an operational unit, the tactical headquarters and the Air staff.
He graduated in 1973 from the Royal Military Academy ( Master in Military and Aeronautical Sciences, Thesis: “Preconditions and advisability to hold a European Conference on Security and Co-operation) and in 1985 from EHSAL (Economische Hogeschool Sint-Aloysius – Brussels, Master in Economic Sciences, orientation International Economics and Diplomatic Relations, Thesis: “Study on Peace Research”, prize best thesis).

He is guest speaker at several European universities on issues related to European Security and Defence Policy and Transatlantic relations.

Brigadier General Jo Coelmont
Senior Associate Fellow - Europe in the World Programme
EGMONT, Royal Institute for International Relations
Rue de Namur 69, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.

Expertise

• European Security and Defence Policy
• Belgian security and defence policy
• EU-NATO and EU-US relations
• Strategic planning of Peace Support Operations

Publications

Read the papers of the Europe in the World Programme here.

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