A graduate of the Ecole nationale d’Administration (1976-78), Michel Duclos began his diplomatic career at the Policy Planning Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France, where he served as Deputy Director from 1984 to 1987. He then became Counsellor at the French Embassy in Moscow (1987-1991) and subsequently in Bonn (1991-1994). He directed the MFA’s disarmament section from 1994 to 1998 and was involved in negotiating the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
In Brussels from 1998 to 2002, he initially served as Ambassador of France to the WEU, participating in the creation of the Foreign Policy and Security Committee (COPS), and from 2000 to 2002, was the first Ambassador for France of this Committee. He was Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations in New York from 2002 to 2006 and then Ambassador of France to Syria from 2006 to 2009. He subsequently served as Diplomatic Counselor in the Cabinet of the Ministry of the Interior from 2009 to 2012 and as Ambassador of France to Switzerland from 2012 to 2014.
Michel Duclos is currently Special Advisor to Institute Montaigne (Paris) and non-resident senior fellow with the Rafik Hariri Centre of the Atlantic Council (Washington DC). He writes extensively for Institute Montaigne and medias in France and abroad. He is the author of three books at éditions de l’Observatoire: la Longue Nuit Syrienne (2019), Le Monde des Nouveaux Autoritaires (2019), la France dans le Bouleversement du Monde (2021).
Michel Duclos has been married to the novelist Isabelle Hausser since 1976. The couple have three children – Matthieu, Anne and Adrien. Ambassador Duclos is an Officer of the Legion of Honor.
