Peter Sandler

In the Summer of 2025, Peter took charge of a new directorate, focused on shaping the Commission’s approach to economic security and maintaining the Union’s capacity for independent action. His teams are responsible for policy development, outreach to business and partner countries and key economic security tools, such as investment screening and export controls, as well as the design and roll out of trade sanctions.

Prior to his current post, Peter’s roles have included market access work, enforcement and legal affairs as well as investment and export controls and trade sanctions. He has been the Commission’s deputy representative in the Council’s Trade Policy Committee and later Director for policy coordination, Interinstitutional relations, communications and resources.

Peter has spent most of his career "building" Europe from the inside, having graduated as a lawyer from Bristol University in the UK and the College of Europe in Bruges. He joined the Commission in 1992. Prior to discovering the world of trade, he worked on economic reform from opening up Europe's telecoms markets in the 1990s to being a Commission spokesperson for the information society and business in the Prodi Commission. He was policy assistant to the Commission’s Secretary General. He joined DG Trade in 2004 as Assistant to the Director General.