Biography of Pierre-Alain Coffinier
Pierre-Alain COFFINIER
Born on May 11th 1957.
After completing a Master in business administration from the Ecole supérieure des Sciences économiques et commerciales (ESSEC) in Paris, I served two years in our Embassy in Madrid, developing inter-university relations. This experience encouraged me to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After studying political science at l’Institut des Sciences politiques in Paris, and Arabic, I passed the foreign Ministry’s exam in 1986. I then served twice in our UN department in Paris and New York, in the Middle East (Jordan, Yemen and Israel) and our Ministry of Defence.
Before arriving in Edinburgh, I served three years in our Directorate for the European Union at the headquarters of the Ministry, as the head of division for western, northern and Baltic Europe. In this position, I was in charge of our bilateral relations with 15 countries, the most important of which being, of course, the United Kingdom. My division was the focal point for the preparation of the last three UK-French summits.
My wife, Anne, is deeply involved in private schools in France and very interested in the British and Scottish educational systems. Joachim (12), Hélène (7) and Jeanne (6) are now in the Scottish system.
I enjoy reading history, discovering new countries, especially those with a strong identity, a cultural depth, beautiful landscapes and wildlife. I also like swimming and horse-riding, but as a family, we will first of all discover Scotland through hiking.