Damien Levie

Head of Unit, Technology and Security, FDI Screening, DG Trade at European Commission

Speaker

He oversees the unit is in charge of “Strategic Trade and Investment Controls for Security”, which include:
- controls on exports of dual-use items;
- export sanctions on Russia since its war of aggression in Ukraine, and on Belarus and Iran;
- controls of foreign investments through the EU FDI Screening mechanism; and
- the EU initiative to review outbound investments in sensitive technology sectors.

Damien was a senior EU diplomat in Washington (2014-18) and helped manage economic relations with the USA under Presidents Obama and Trump. From 2012 to 2014: he was the EU deputy-chief negotiator for the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

He was a senior adviser in the Cabinet of EU Trade Commissioner De Gucht, notably in charge of investment policy.

Damien has law degrees from KU Leuven and the University of Chicago Law School and an Economics degree from UC Louvain. He was a lawyer at a major U.S. law firm from 1994 to 2001.