US State Department appoints new top official for Europe

A business consultant and former member United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Senate staff has been appointed as the US State Department‘s top executive for Europe, the department’s website showed on Friday.

This change comes on the back of China’s move to thaw its relationship with the EU by lifting some diplomatic restrictions on some MEPs.

Brendan Hanrahan has taken on the role of the senior bureau official for the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR).

Who is Brendan Hanrahan?

According to the website, Hanrahan was an investor at a private American firm and previously worked as a policy adviser for the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship under Rubio.

Hanrahan replaces Louis Bono, a senior foreign service officer who was appointed to the role when US President Donald Trump was elected in January.

Hanrahan’s biography on the department website does not mention whether he has any experience working on foreign policy issues.

“Brendan brings valuable experience from the private sector and the Senate, where he served on the secretary’s staff, making him well poised to lead the bureau through the reorganization and to successfully advance the Secretary’s agenda throughout Europe and beyond,” news agency Reuters — which first reported the new appointment — cited an internal email from Bono as saying.

Latest change at State

The State Department’s move comes amid Washington‘s shifting ties with Europe as Trump steps up pressure on allies over NATO spending, floats plans to acquire Greenland and pushes for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Trump administration is seeking a massive overhaul of the State Department in a bid to execute the president’s “America First” policy.

Earlier in the week,Rubio announced that the department would slash its staff by 15% and eliminate over 100 bureaus and offices globally.