Bernardus (Ben) Smulders, born in The Hague (Netherlands) on 25 June 1960, was educated at the European School of Brussels (Uccle), graduated in law at Leiden University, obtained a Master’s Degree at the London School of Economics and completed management executive programs at the London Business School, INSEAD and Stanford Business School.
As of 1 March 2022 he is Deputy Director General in the European Commission’s DG for Competition, after being Director in the European Commission Legal Service, heading the Trade Policy & WTO team. Prior to this, he worked in the Legal Service as Director, heading the Institutions & EMU team, and served before as a member of its Internal market-, State aid control & Competition teams. Over a period of 12 years, he gained considerable experience in representing the European Commission in litigation before the EU General Court and EU Court of Justice, the EFTA Court, and WT0.
Prior to being employed by the European Commission in 1991 Ben Smulders was for six years a member of the Amsterdam bar and practiced law in the international law firm Nauta Dutilh, of which he was elected partner in 1990.
