Luis Vassy was chief of staff of the resigning Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, and former French ambassador to the Netherlands between 2019 and 2022.
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End of the governance crisis? The two governing bodies of Sciences Po Paris have designated diplomat Luis Vassy as the future director of the school, AFP learned from the establishment on Friday, September 20. At 44, this senior civil servant with dual French and Uruguayan nationality was running for the head of Sciences Po for the first time.
After having learned the ropes with Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Defense, this graduate of the École Normale Supérieure and former classmate of Emmanuel Macron at the ENA was French ambassador to the Netherlands from 2019 to 2022. He then headed the office of successive foreign ministers, Catherine Colonna, then Stéphane Séjourné.
The board of directors of the National Foundation for Political Science (FNSP), which oversees Sciences Po, chose Luis Vassy on Friday from among the two candidates in the running, by 19 votes out of 25 voters, according to the school. On Thursday, the board of the Institute, the institution’s internal governance body, also voted in his favor.
Sciences Po has been plunged into a new leadership crisis following the resignation in March of its former boss, Mathias Vicherat, who was sent to court with his ex-partner in a domestic violence case. The prestigious school has also been shaken in recent months by controversies linked to the mobilizations of pro-Palestinian students.