Philippe Étienne


Philippe Noël Marie Marc Étienne is a French diplomat who currently serves as diplomatic adviser to the President and nominated as ambassador of France in the United States effective September 2019.

Biography

Étienne was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris. He graduated from the École normale supérieure in 1974, and from the École nationale d'administration in 1980, alongside François Hollande and Michel Sapin. He also has an agrégation in mathematics and studied Serbo-Croat at INALCO.
As a diplomat, he has served in Belgrade, Bonn, the French mission to the EU in Brussels, Moscow and Bucharest. He has also served in various roles in Paris, notably as president of the Agency for French Education Abroad. He has also worked as deputy chief-of-staff to Hervé de Charette and as chief-of-staff to Bernard Kouchner. In the latter role, he was closely involved in the 2008 G20 Washington summit following the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the evacuation of French citizens from Tbilisi during the Russian invasion of Georgia, and the French presidency of the Council of the European Union.
From 31 July 2014 he served as French ambassador to Germany. In April 2017, he was designated to replace Jean-Maurice Ripert as French ambassador to Russia, but was instead appointed diplomatic adviser to President Emmanuel Macron on 14 May. Étienne’s appointment was widely interpreted as signaling a desire for close ties to Germany and the EU.
He was made a knight of the Légion d'honneur on 22nd 2003, and was promoted to officer on 1 January 2013. He was made a knight of the National Order of Merit on 14 May 1994.
Besides French, Étienne speaks English, German, Serbo-Croat, Russian and Romanian.
He was nominated in May 2019 by President Emmanuel Macron as ambassador of France in the United States effective September 2019.