Philippe DE SCHOUTHEETE is a former Belgian diplomat and ambassador, now teaching at the Institut d'Etudes Europeénes at the University of Louvain, Brussels, and serving as special adviser to Michel Barnier, member of the European Commission. From 1987 to 1997, Ambassador de Schoutheete served as the permanent representative of Belgium to the European Union in Brussels. He entered the Belgian Diplomatic Service in 1956, served in Paris from 1958 to 1962, and in Cairo from 1962 to 1965. Ambassador de Schoutheete was head of the press service and spokesman for the Foreign Ministry from 1966 to 1968, counselor in the Belgium Embassy in Madrid from 1968 to 1972, and minister of the Belgian Embassy in Bonn from 1972 to 1976. He has also served as the director at the European Organizations Service, as political director at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Brussels, and as the Belgian Ambassador in Madrid. His latest book, The Case for Europe, Lynne Rienner (Boulder and London), was published in 2000. He graduated from Beaumont College in the United Kingdom, and holds degrees in political science and law from Louvain University.