Yuriko Backes

 

Bio: 

Yuriko Backes began her professional career in 1994 as chargée de mission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has held various positions, including at the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the United Nations in New York, the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the Western European Union in Brussels, and the Luxembourg Embassy in Japan. Attached to the Directorate of European Affairs and International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg, she was sworn in as a civil servant in 2001.

The career diplomat was then assigned to the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the European Union in Brussels from 2001 to 2006. She continued her diplomatic career as deputy head of mission at the Luxembourg Embassy in Japan from 2006 to 2008 and as deputy head of the Directorate for International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg from 2008 to 2010.

From 2010 to 2016, Yuriko Backes was the diplomatic adviser and sherpa to Luxembourg Prime Ministers Jean-Claude Juncker and Xavier Bettel. She was the representative of the European Commission in Luxembourg from 2016 to 2020. From June 2020 until her appointment to the government as Minister of Finance, she served as marshal of the GrandDucal Court.