Biden nominates longtime aide Mark Gitenstein as ambassador to European Union

US President Joe Biden on July 27 nominated his longtime aide Mark Gitenstein as ambassador to the European Union, the White House announced. According to a press release, Gitenstein served under former President Barack Obama as ambassador to EU member Romania, where he has ancestral ties. During his tenure, he focused on fighting corruption and preserving democratic institutions, issues he continued to focus on through his work as a lawyer and with NGOs.

Gitenstein has spent 17 years as the Democratic counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee where he became close to Biden, who chaired the panel as a rising young senator. He worked alongside Biden in a key moment - leading the Senate’s rejection of Robert Bork, an arch-conservative nominee for Supreme Court justice -- and later wrote a book about the episode. In 2021, he served as a senior advisor to and member of the advisory committee to the Biden presidential transition. 

Gitenstein earned an A.B. at Duke University and a J.D. at Georgetown University Law School.  He was awarded the Star of Romania, the nation’s highest civilian honour, by the President of Romania in 2012. Since his term as ambassador ended in 2012, he has returned to the region over two dozen times since then.

In a statement, Gitenstein said, “I will, if confirmed, be privileged to help implement the agenda agreed to at the June U.S.-EU Summit”. 

He added, “It is a robust and comprehensive agenda, which includes working with our EU partners to chart the course for the world economy in the 21st century, ensure the rules are based on our shared democratic values, and tackle shared challenges from COVID-19 to climate change”. 

Biden announces key nominations 

Meanwhile, along with Gitenstein, Biden also announced his intent to nominate eight other individuals to serve in key roles. As per the press note, the US President nominated William Valdez for Under Secretary for Management, Department of Homeland Security; Erik Hooks, Nominee for Deputy Administrator for Federal Emergency Management Agency; Lisa Gomez, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security, Department of Labor; Adrienne Wojciechowski, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, Department of Agriculture; Laura S. H. Holgate, ambassador to the Vienna Office of the United Nations; Patricia Mahoney, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Central African Republic; Julissa Reynoso Pantaleon, ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and to the Principality of Andorra and Peter Hendrick Vrooman, Ambassador to the Republic of Mozambique. 

(Image: Twitter/AP)