The CEI-Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES) was established in Trieste under the Austrian CEI Presidency in 1996.
It operates with the legal status of an International Organisation, based on a Headquarters Agreement concluded between the Italian Government and the CEI Presidency.
The CEI-ES provides administrative and conceptual support to the CEI pillar system (Governmental, Parliamentary, Economic and Local Dimensions). It also manages its funds and instruments and takes appropriate initiatives aimed at promoting the realisation of the Organisation's mission.
The seat in Trieste, via Genova 9, was made available to the CEI by the Italian Government through the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region, free of charge and ties, under terms described in a Protocol concluded between the CEI Secretariat and the Region.
Since its establishment, the CEI-ES was headed by Ambassador Paul Hartig (Austria) from 1996 to 2001; Ambassador Harald Kreid (Austria) from 2002 to 2007; Ambassador Pietro Ercole Ago (Italy) from 2008 to 2009; Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter (Austria) from 2010 to 2012. Ambassador Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri (Italy) from 2013 to 2018. Roberto Antonione (Italy) from 2019 to 2024. As of 2025, Franco Dal Mas (Italy).
Executive level as of 1 January 2025
- Secretary General, Franco Dal Mas
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Deputy Secretary General, Zsuzsanna Kiraly
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Ms. Zsuzsanna Kiraly started her assignement as CEI Deputy Secretary General on 1 May 2022. She studied law at the University of Budapest and started working in 2001 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, working in its Legal Department until 2007.
Later, she moved to Milan as a Deputy Chief of Mission at the Consulate General of Hungary, responsible for consular affairs and for developing bilateral relations. After 2013, she worked under the State Secretary for Administrative Affairs and as a Deputy Head of the Department of Human Resources.
She led the consular section at the Consulate General of Hungary in New York, being the Deputy Chief of Mission, between 2014 and 2018. From November 2018, she started working under the Deputy State Secretary for the Development of European Relations.