Lucie Samcová-Hall Allen has been appointed the new Ambassador of the European Union to Iceland.
Lucie Samcová is from Prague in the Czech Republic and has worked for the European Union since 2005. RÚV reports that she has worked for the Council of Ministers and the Foreign Service, as well as for the EU Delegation to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. She has a university degree in journalism, economics and management.
According to a report by Fréttablaðið, Lucie Samcová handed in her credentials to the President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, on September 15th and she is reported to have discussed many issues in world affairs and relations between Iceland and the European Union with the president.
“Since the signing of the EEA (European Economic Area) Agreement, more than 10 percent of the population in Iceland have benefited from the Erasmus program, which supports people to study and live in another country,” she told reporters. “About 40,000 people from the European Union now live in Iceland, which corresponds to more than 10 percent of the population. These figures show how close and important the relationship between Iceland and the EU is.”
Lucie Samcová reportedly also mentioned that the co-operation between the EU and Iceland also makes it possible to tackle challenges such as climate change, the protection of the Arctic, and the promotion of gender equality, adding that the staff of the European Union delegation in Iceland is committed to working towards these goals and maintaining successful co-operation.
Her predecessor, Michael Mann, left the country in March before the routes were closed due to the pandemic. He had held the position for two and a half years.
Since her inauguration, Lucie Samcová and María Pérez de Armiñan, Chargé d’Affaires of Spain to Iceland, have signed an Administrative Arrangement for the co-location of the Spanish Embassy within the premises of the Delegation in Reykjavik. This is the fourth co-location agreement to be concluded between the European Union External Service and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after Chad, Fiji and Myanmar. Around the world there are 74 delegations with co-location agreements with Member States, Commission or UN missions, according to the statement on the official European Union website.
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