BIO
Mr. Pascal Lamy is Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since September 2005.
Mr. Lamy holds degrees from the Paris based Ecole des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC), from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) and from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He began his career in the French civil service at the Inspection Générale des finances and at the Treasury. He then became an advisor to the Finance Minister Jacques Delors, and subsequently to Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy.
In Brussels from 1985 to 1994, Pascal Lamy was Chief of staff for the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, and his representative as Sherpa in the G7.
In November 1994, he joined the team in charge of rescuing Credit Lyonnais, and later became CEO of the bank until its privatisation in 1999.
Between 1999 and 2004, Pascal Lamy was Commissioner for Trade at the European Commission under Romano Prodi.
After his tenure in Brussels, Pascal Lamy spent a short sabbatical period as President of “Notre Europe”, a think tank working on European integration, as associate Professor at the l’Institut d’études politiques in Paris and as advisor to Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (President of the European Socialist Party).
Has international trade come to a standstill with the crisis that started in 2008? Things are not that simple, says the Director-General of the WTO. While protectionist pressures may appear here and there, the real question revolves around the growing complexity of trade and the structural limits inherent to the technique of negotiation rounds undertaken by member states.
L'essor du commerce international a-t-il pris fin avec la crise ouverte en 2008 ? Pas si simple, répond le directeur général de l’OMC. Si des tensions protectionnistes peuvent apparaître ici ou là, la vraie question touche à la complexification des échanges, et aux limites structurelles de la méthode des cycles de négociations animés par les Etats.