Deputy Chief of Mission

Stephen Cristina

Deputy Chief of Mission Stephen Cristina

Mr. Cristina is currently Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Tirana, Albania. 

He is a specialist in European Union Affairs and served most recently as Economic Counselor at the US Mission to the EU in Brussels where he was responsible for the wide range of economic issues between the U.S. and the EU, including issues related to Homeland Security.  

From 1998-2002, Mr. Cristina was Political Counselor at the US Embassy in Helsinki, during a period in which Finland was EU President and when then Finnish President was mediating with Milosevic over withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo.  Earlier assignments include three years in the State Department's Office of European Union and Regional Affairs, where he specialized in EU Relations with Central and Eastern Europe and the creation of Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative; the Office of Aviation Negotiations; US Embassy in The Hague during the period of the Dutch EU Presidency and the Maastricht Treaty.  He began his diplomatic career at the US Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil. 

He speaks French, Dutch, Portuguese, Finnish, and Albanian.