Maria Assimakopoulou-Sørensen is a senior advisor on European economic policy, finance, competition, taxation and international trade. As Minister Counsellor at the Economic Department of the Greek Permanent Representation to the EU, she served 5 consecutive governments and was directly involved in economic crisis management including creditor negotiations, bail-outs and reform programmes.
In the ECOFIN context she was involved in improving macroeconomic governance, and strengthening the financial system through the EU banking Union the regulatory framework for financial services. She is a former Deputy Member of the Boards of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
Earlier on she was EC spokeswoman on taxation and customs, and before that, member of the EC negotiating team for the EU enlargement with Austria, Finland and Sweden and the ensuing trade negotiations with the U.S. and Canada.
Maria holds an MA in international economics from Reading University, the UK, and a BA in economics from Athens University. A Greek national, she is fluent in English, French and Spanish.