ABOUT

Mr Kerneis achieved his Ph. D. in European Law in 1990 in France. He was Legal Expert in the European Commission in Brussels from 1988 to 1990, and then worked for the European Banking Federation, as International Affairs Adviser. He was appointed Managing Director of ESF (European Services Forum) in 1999. He also worked briefly as a Special Advisor to BusinessEurope International Affairs Department in 2010-2012. ESF is the voice of the European services industry in the international trade and investment negotiations.

He is a long-standing member of the DG Trade Civil Society Contact Group. Mr Kerneis is member of all the European Domestic Advisory Groups (DAG) set by the EU FTAs, and chairs the EU-Singapore DAG established in 2020. He participated to all WTO Ministerial Conferences as Commission’s advisor. In 2014, he has been appointed member of Commission’s Advisory Group for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the United States. In December 2017, he was appointed member of DG Trade’s Expert Group on Trade Agreements.

He regularly participated to EU-GCC Business Forum. In 2019 and 2020, he contributed to a report on EU FDI with GCC countries sponsored by the EU-GCC Dialogue on Economic Diversification (funded by the EU).

He is a regular speaker on trade in services and investment conferences and author of articles on trade in services and investment related issues in various books and publications.