Armando Barucco
Armando Barucco (born 1962) is an Italian diplomat who has been Secretary-General of the European University Institute (EUI) since 30 June 2025. A career member of the Italian diplomatic service since 1991, he previously served as Italy's ambassador to Morocco and Mauritania and to Sudan, and directed the ministry's policy planning unit.
Early life and education
Barucco was born in Naples in 1962. He took a law degree at the Sapienza University of Rome and a diploma in advanced European legal studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, which he completed in 1990.
Between 2003 and 2006, he pursued research at the Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and, in 2006-7, he was a fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
Diplomatic career
Early postings
Barucco entered the Italian diplomatic service in 1991, initially serving in the Farnesina's directorate-general for economic affairs. In 1992-93 he was deputy head of the Italian special diplomatic delegation for Somalia in Mogadishu during the Unified Task Force and UNOSOM operations.
He served in Kuala Lumpur from 1996 to 2000, latterly as deputy head of mission, before moving to Italy's Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels, where between 2000 and 2002 he acted as 'Mertens' counsellor with responsibility for preparing meetings of Coreper I. He was Consul General in Mumbai from 2002 to 2003, then returned to Rome to work under the director-general for European integration.
From 2007 to 2011 Barucco was Italy's 'Antici' counsellor at the Permanent Representation to the EU, responsible for general coordination and the preparation of meetings of the European Council, including work on the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the establishment of the European External Action Service.
Ambassador to Sudan
Barucco was ambassador to Sudan from November 2011 to February 2015. He was reported to have played a part in the resolution of several human rights cases during his posting, among them that of Mariam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy in 2014 and subsequently released and flown to Italy. From 2013 he also had charge of the first European Union cooperation programme managed by Italy, for the rehabilitation of the health system in eastern Sudan.
Policy Planning Unit
From March 2015 to February 2021 Barucco directed the Italian foreign ministry's unit for analysis, planning, statistics and historical documentation - its policy planning unit - reporting to the ministry's secretary-general. In that capacity he was responsible for organising five editions of the Rome MED - Mediterranean Dialogues conference between 2016 and 2020.
Ambassador to Morocco and Mauritania
Barucco took up the post of ambassador to Morocco on 1 March 2021, succeeding Barbara Bregato, and was concurrently accredited to Mauritania. On taking office he framed the relationship in terms of a shared Mediterranean space and a joint Italian-Moroccan agenda for the wider Mediterranean and Africa.
In 2021 he was involved in the case of Ikram Nazih, an Italian-Moroccan student detained in Morocco over a social media post; the then foreign minister Luigi Di Maio publicly thanked Barucco for his work on the case following her release. In an interview with ANSA in 2022 he described Morocco as a privileged partner for Italy and the European Union and a key actor for stability in the wider Mediterranean and the Sahel, noting that bilateral trade had grown by 27 per cent in 2021 to approach €3.5 billion.
He was succeeded in Rabat by Pasquale Salzano, previously president of SIMEST, with effect from 2 July 2025.
EUI Secretary-General
The EUI's High Council appointed Barucco to the post of Secretary-General by a decision of 5 June 2025, for a term of four years. He assumed office on 30 June 2025, succeeding Marco Del Panta, a former Italian ambassador to Austria who had held the post since 2021.
The Secretary-General supports the EUI President in the organisational, administrative and governance functions of the Institute, acts as principal liaison with the contracting states, the EU institutions and the Italian government, oversees the accession process for EU member states not yet party to the Convention, and has responsibility for the Institute's funding and alumni strategies, legal and compliance matters, and risk management.
In his first public address in the role, delivered at Palazzo Buontalenti in Florence, Barucco addressed the perception of the Institute as an "ivory tower" separated from the city by its location in the hills of Fiesole and argued for research-driven, long-term policy frameworks as a corrective to the short-termism he saw in post-pandemic politics.
Selected writings
Barucco has contributed to edited volumes on Italian diplomacy and has written for the Italian foreign policy review AffarInternazionali, published by the Istituto Affari Internazionali. He contributed to 150 anni di diplomazia italiana. Li dimostra?, edited by Daniele Verga (Aracne, 2018), and wrote the preface to I rapporti tra Italia e Marocco nel XIX secolo (Editoriale Scientifica, 2023).
See also
- European University Institute