Gardner confirmed as US ambassador to the EU

Anthony Luzzatto Gardner confirmed by US Senate, will take office in the coming weeks.

Anthony Luzzatto Gardner, Barack Obama’s nominee for the post of US ambassador to the European Union, was confirmed last night (12 February) by the United States Senate.

Gardner, who replaces William Kennard, is no stranger to EU relations, having served as the director for European affairs in the National Security Council for 14 months in 1994-95, under Anthony Lake, where his responsibilities included relations with the EU institutions. 

He did an internship with the European Commission in Brussels in 1990-91, he spent a further 18 months in the Brussels offices of Coudert Brothers, a law firm, in 1992-94, before going to the National Security Council, then returned to Brussels for 18 months from January 1996, as a senior associate at the law firm Hogan & Hartson. In total, he spent eight years practising law in Europe.

He has also written widely on EU issues, including a book A New Era in US-EU Relations The Clinton Administration and the New Transatlantic Agenda.

Gardner has spent most of the past decade in investment finance, latterly as managing director of the London-based private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners. Aged 50, Gardner is married, with two children. His father, Richard Gardner, was the US ambassador to Italy in 1977-81 and to Spain in 1993-97. His Italian mother, Danielle Luzzatto, who died in 2008, was a journalist.

The New York Times ranked Gardner 148th among the top fundraisers for US President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in an article last September. As of September 2012, he had channelled $470,160 (€356,993) to the campaign.

Gardner is expected to take office in the next weeks. His will be coming to Brussels at a sensitive time for US-EU relations. Not only will he have to deal with the fallout from revelations about US spying on European citizens and leaders, he will also have to oversee delicate negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement.