Claus Haugaard Sørensen

Claus Haugaard Sørensen is Senior Adviser to the European Union. During the past year Mr. Sørensen has advised EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on crisis management and humanitarian issues. In 2006 he was appointed Director General for the Commissions’ Communication department, and in 2011 he became head of the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection DG in the European Commission (ECHO). While exercising that function Mr. Sørensen became a driving force in improving the EU’s responses to crisis and conflict-affected victims. He also led the reform of the international Humanitarian system, leading up to the Istanbul Humanitarian Summit in May 2016. He also promoted the resilience approach and disaster risk reduction approach, both globally and inside the European Union. Mr. Sørensen has a background as a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, and a long history of work within the EU. In 1990 he joined the European Commission’s Cabinet of Vice-president Henning Christophersen working on the EURO, relations with Eastern Europe, the Enlargement with Sweden, Austria and Finland as well as the European Social dimension and Environmental issues. Between 1999 and 2011, Mr. Sørensen held functions such as Director for International Environmental issues, Head of Cabinet for respectively the Commissioner for Agriculture and the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian assistance. Mr Sørensen has a Masters in Economics from Aarhus University and regularly lectures at the Universities of Lund, York and Copenhagen.