Pol De Witte
Biography
Pol De Witte succeeded Hugues Chantry as Director General of the Egmont Institute on 1 October 2022.
From 1974 to 1980, he studied Law and European and International Law at the VUB (Free University Brussels). Following a traineeship at the European Commission, his military service and short stints at the Belgian Foreign Trade Office and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Pol started working for the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1984. Following postings in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Hungary and at the Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, he worked for the NATO International Staff, also in Brussels, for 8 years (1995-2000 and 2002-2005).
After having served as Director Eastern Europe (2005-2006) and Director International Security (2006-2009) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was Belgian Ambassador in Turkey from 2009 to 2013 and in Denmark from 2013 to 2016. Subsequently, he served for 6 years as Secretary General of the Household of H.M. the King, until his retirement on 30 September 2022.
Pol is married to Ann Lagring and has three sons.