Silvia Kofler
First Counsellor, Head of Press, Public and Cultural Affairs
Delegation of the European Commission to Japan
Silvia Kofler joined the Delegation of the European Commission to Japan on 1 April, 2005 as Head of the Press, Public and Cultural Affairs (PPCA) Section.
Silvia Kofler is a typical European Union citizen. Of Italian nationality, she was born and grew up in the mountain area of the Dolomites in Northern Italy where there is a German speaking minority. It is due to this background that she is very familiar with the problem of minorities of which there are plenty in Europe. Incidentally, the minority arrangements set up in this region are very often referred to as a best practice on how to solve minority issues.
Silvia Kofler studied law in both Austria (Innsbruck) and Italy (Padua), before graduating at the University of Padua in international law.
Her debut in the professional world was in the banking sector, first on the legal side, and then in financial management. After having acquired a good experience of working in the private sector both in Luxembourg city and in Milan, Ms Kofler joined the European Communities in Brussels in 1992. She dealt initially with development policy in the Secretariat General of the EU Council of Ministers, before spending six years in the Council’s press office. This assignment gave her the opportunity to get a general overview of the policies and actions of the EU in all sectors. Furthermore, she could deal with the biggest international press corps accredited anywhere in the world - over 1000 journalists buzz around in Brussels to inform their readers about the European Union.
In 2000 Ms Kofler left Brussels and went to Moscow finally giving in to a longstanding interest in Russian culture and society. She headed the press and information department for four years in the European Commission Delegation. In a country were people are resigned to a hazardous life, she insisted on the need for the EU and Russia to deepen their strategic partnership.
After a short stint back at EU Commission Headquarters overseeing the information efforts regarding the EU trade policy, in 2005 - the EU-Japan Year of People-to-People Exchanges - she was assigned to convey the EU’s key messages and spreading information about the EU in general in Japan.
Silvia Kofler will head the PPCA Section for four years aiming at raising the visibility of the EU in Japan and making the Japanese aware that the EU is not just an important partner in terms of trade but also a key political ally.
During this period she hopes realistically to reach a level of Japanese allowing her at least to decipher the headlines in Japanese dailies, though her ambition would be for more.
She is joined here by her two children, Sara and Sofia, aged five and three respectively, and their father.
Silvia Kofler is also a typical European in the sense that she speaks five EU languages fluently. She is also fluent in Russian.