Yuriko Backes is a career diplomat with a wealth of international experience.
She began her professional career in 1994 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has held various positions, including at the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the United Nations in New York, the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the Western European Union in Brussels, and the Luxembourg Embassy in Japan.
The career diplomat was assigned to the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the European Union in Brussels from 2001 to 2006. She continued her diplomatic career as deputy head of mission at the Luxembourg Embassy in Japan from 2006 to 2008 and as deputy head of the Directorate for International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg from 2008 to 2010. From 2010 to 2016, Yuriko Backes was the diplomatic adviser and sherpa to Luxembourg Prime Ministers Jean-Claude Juncker and Xavier Bettel.
She was the representative of the European Commission in Luxembourg from 2016 to 2020.
From June 2020 until her appointment to the government, she served as marshal of the Grand-Ducal Court.
She graduated from the London School of Economics and holds a Masters Degree from London’s School of Oriental and African Arts as well as a second Masters degree from the College of Europe in Bruges.
Photo ©SIP / Yves Kortum