Dr. Péter Gottfried graduated from the Budapest University of Economics, receiving a diploma in Trade Policy and Finance, where he later obtained a doctoral degree in the framework of his postgraduate studies. He began his career as a foreign trade salesman, and from 1981 he was an employee of the Department of Customs and International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Starting with 1983, he served for two years at the Consulate of Hungary in Geneva as a diplomat, and from 1989 he worked for almost six years at the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the European Union in Brussels, first as a dipomat and then as a Deputy Head.
As a result, he took part in the negotiations revolving around the Partnership Agreement between Hungary and the European Community, preparing Hungary’s accession to the European Union. From 1995 he was the Titular State Secretary at the Chair of the Office for European Affairs of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and later he became the Deputy Head and the Head of State Secretariat for Integration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2005 to 2006, he served as Head of the Office of European Affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office. In 2007 he became the Head of the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the OECD in Paris.
Since 2010, he is the Chief Advisor of the Prime Minister on EU Affairs. He was a delegate to the Convention establishing the Treaty of Lisbon. Since Hungary’s accession to the European Union, he has participated as an expert in most meetings of the Heads of State and Government of the European Council. He holds several prestigious Hungarian and foreign awards.