Catherine Colonna | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Colonna in 2023 | |
| Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 20 May 2022 – 11 January 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Élisabeth Borne |
| Preceded by | Jean-Yves Le Drian |
| Succeeded by | Stéphane Séjourné |
| Ambassador of France to the United Kingdom | |
| In office 2 September 2019 – 20 May 2022 | |
| President | Emmanuel Macron |
| Preceded by | Jean-Pierre Jouyet |
| Succeeded by | Hélène Tréheux-Duchêne |
| Permanent Representative of France to OECD | |
| In office 4 October 2017 – 2 September 2019 | |
| President | Emmanuel Macron |
| Preceded by | Pierre Duquesne |
| Succeeded by | Jean-Pierre Jouyet |
| Ambassador of France to Italy | |
| In office 1 September 2014 – 21 September 2017 | |
| President | François Hollande Emmanuel Macron |
| Preceded by | Alain Le Roy |
| Succeeded by | Christian Masset |
| Permanent Representative of France to UNESCO | |
| In office 26 March 2008 – 22 December 2010 | |
| President | Nicolas Sarkozy |
| Preceded by | Joëlle Bourgois |
| Succeeded by | Rama Yade |
| Minister for European Affairs | |
| In office 2 June 2005 – 15 May 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | Dominique de Villepin |
| Preceded by | Claudie Haigneré |
| Succeeded by | Jean-Pierre Jouyet |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 April 1956 Tours, France |
| Alma mater | University of Tours Sciences Po ENA |
Catherine Colonna (French: [katʁin kɔlɔna]; born 16 April 1956) is a French diplomat and politician who served as Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne from May 2022 to January 2024.
Colonna previously served as Ambassador of France to the United Kingdom (2019–2022), Ambassador of France to Italy (2014–2017), Permanent Representative to OECD (2017–2019) and Permanent Representative to UNESCO (2008–2010).
Colonna was born in Tours in the Centre-Val de Loire region. Colonna was the daughter of a farmer of Corsican origin. After obtaining a master's degree in public law at the Université François-Rabelais of Tours, she pursued her studies at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (public service) then École nationale d'administration (ENA) in the class of 1983 (Promotion Solidarité).
In 1983, Colonna entered diplomatic service being appointed to the Embassy of France in the United States, first in the political department, then in the press and information department.
Upon her return to Paris, Colonna oversaw European Law at the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1986 to 1988. In 1988, she was promoted Technical Advisor in Minister of Public Works Maurice Faure's cabinet, under the presidency of François Mitterrand. In 1989, shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, she joined the Analysis and Forecasting Centre at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she was put in charge of European Affairs. She later became spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990, in the department of Communication and Information, a position she held for five years.
In 1993, Minister of Foreign Affairs Alain Juppé and Cabinet Director Dominique de Villepin named Colonna deputy spokeswoman. Two years later, in May 1995, newly-installed President Jacques Chirac appointed her spokeswoman for the Élysée. For the following nine years, she served as the official voice of the French Republic's presidency, then left office to work as Director General of the National Centre of Cinematography (CNC) in September 2004.
Following the European Constitution referendum, Colonna returned to diplomacy, being appointed Minister Delegate for European Affairs in Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's newly-formed government on 2 June 2005. She remained in position for two years, until 15 May 2007. From autumn 2007 until summer 2008, Colonna participated in the Commission on the White Paper on Foreign and European policy of France, led by Alain Juppé.
On 26 March 2008, Colonna was appointed as the French Permanent Representative to UNESCO.
Since May 2008, Colonna was a member of the Fondation Chirac's Board of Directors,[1] and was a member of the Franco-British Council.[2]
Since May 2010, Colonna also chairs the Board of Governors of the École du Louvre.[3]
In December 2010, Colonna joined the Paris office of international financial communications firm Brunswick as managing partner.[4]
Colonna was appointed as the French Ambassador to Rome on 14 August 2014.[5] She became Permanent Representative to OECD in 2017, before being appointed as the French Ambassador to London in 2019.
Amid a 2021 dispute between the United Kingdom and France over post-Brexit fishing licenses, then UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss instructed Minister of State for Europe, Wendy Morton, to summon Colonna "to explain the disappointing and disproportionate threats made against the UK and Channel Islands."[6]
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In May 2022, Colonna was named Foreign Minister in the Borne government. She was the second woman to hold this office, after the short stint by Michèle Alliot-Marie in 2010.[7]
Early in her tenure, Colonna and Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu travelled to Niger together to seal a regional redeployment, making the country the hub for French troops in the Sahel region.[8]
In January 2023, Colonna and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Ethiopia and met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on a mission to support the Ethiopia–Tigray peace agreement ending the Tigray War.[9]
Following the 2023 Nigerien coup d'état, Colonna expressed support for reversing the coup following a meeting with former Nigerien prime minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou.[10]
In September 2023, Colonna said France would hold Azerbaijan "responsible for the fate of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh."[11]
In February 2024, Colonna was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to lead an independent review group to look into accusations by Israel that 12 staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) were involved in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[12]
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: Officer of the National Order of Merit
: Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters
: Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (1997)[13]
: Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy (2 June 2018)[14]
: Order of Princess Olga, 3rd Class (30 December 2022)[15]
