Dr. Giulio Venneri is an official of the European Union, currently serving at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. He holds the position of Deputy Head of Unit for Enlargement Strategy and Coordination in the Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST). His prior roles include Deputy Head of Unit for Albania and North Macedonia, Head of the “Center of Thematic Expertise for Rule of Law, Fundamental Rights and Democracy”, and team leader for relations with Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Additionally, he was the Permanent Secretary of the International Monitoring Operation (IMO), overseeing the vetting of magistrates in Albania. Earlier in his career, he coordinated justice, freedom, and security issues in the Enlargement process and the visa liberalization dialogue.
Before joining the European civil service, Dr. Venneri worked in the “Global Issues” unit of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and on project implementation in the Middle East. In academia, he serves as an adjunct professor at the School of Government of Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome and is a member of the Steering Committee for the degree in Policies and Governance in Europe (PAGE). He coordinates the policy skills lab at the Diplomacy and Global Politics
programme at the University of Westminster in London and frequently lectures at the College of Europe in Bruges for the EU Diplomatic Academy.
Dr. Venneri earned his PhD with honors from the School of International Studies at the University of Trento.
Selected publications:
Learning Policy Advice in International Affairs and Diplomacy. London: Routledge (2025).
21st-century Odyssey: Using Artificial Intelligence to Navigate the Seas of Development Cooperation in “Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Geopolitics”. London: Routledge (2025).
The EU’s engagement with the Southern Mediterranean: Integrating the European Neighbourhood Policy. London: Palgrave MacMillan (2023). Co-author.
Realist Perspectives: The Missed Opportunity of Creating a Pan-European Collective Security Organization in “The OSCE: Soft Security for a Hard World”. Berlin: Peter Lang (2014).
“Conquered vs. Octroyée Ownership: Police Reform, Conditionality and the EU’s Member-State-building in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Review of European Studies, N. 5(3), (2013): 57–72.
The EU and Civil Society Promotion in the Western Balkans. A practitioner’s viewpoint, in “Civil Society and Transitions in the Western Balkans” (2012): pp.85-92.
Lo slancio di Astana. Roma: Edizioni Alpes Italia (2010). Editor.
“Beyond the Sovereignty Paradox: The EU ‘Hands-up’ Statebuilding of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, in Journal of Intervention and State-building, Vol. 4 N. 2 (2010): pp. 153-178.
“From Democratic to Responsible Sovereignty?” review article in Review of Politics, Vol. 72 N. 2 (2010): pp. 341-43.
“G-What, G-How, and G-How Many? The Future of the G8 Political Agenda.” Milano: Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, ISPI Policy Brief No. 148 (2009).
“Nationalisms and Frozen Sovereignty: Bosnia and Herzegovina between fragmentation and EU integration” review essay in Journal of Intervention and State-building N. 2 (2009): pp. 289-296.
“Alcide De Gasperi and Antonio Messineo: A Spiritual Conception of Politics and a Pragmatic Idea of Religion?” in Religion, State and Society Special Issue (2009): pp. 115-129. Co-author. Also published in Religion, Politics and Law in the EU, London: Routledge (2009): pp.109-124.
“Integrazione Europea e Riforma Costituzionale in Bosnia-Erzegovina: Oltre il Paradosso della Sovranità”, in Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo, N. 4 (2008): pp. 1756-69.
“La Bosnia bina e trina”, in Limes - Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica, N. 2 (2008): pp. 265-74.
“The Hour of Europe Could Come… Perspectives on the EU Presence in Kosovo”, Milano: Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, ISPI Policy Brief No. 77 (2008).
“Back from Westphalia”, in The Review of Politics, Vol. 70 N. 1 (2008): pp. 110-13.
“Man of Faith and Political Commitment: Alcide De Gasperi in the History of Europe”, review article in Journal of Modern Italian Studies Vol. 13 N. 1 (2008): pp. 89-92.