Dimitrios Kourkoulas served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic, responsible for European affairs and international economic relations, from June 2012 to January 2015.

During his ministerial tenure, he was responsible for organizing the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2014. He served as the European Commission’s Ambassador to Lebanon, the first EU Ambassador after the end of the war, in Bulgaria during the negotiations for Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union, and in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

He also served as Director at the Directorate-General for Enlargement of the European Commission, responsible for the strategy and policy of Enlargement with the countries of the Western Balkans, Turkey, and Iceland.