After a year serving as Germany’s ambassador to Ukraine, diplomat and lawyer Heiko Thoms has been appointed as the successor to Ambassador Maria Margarete Gosse at the helm of the German Embassy in Spain.
Thoms initially worked in the Foreign Service from 2001 to 2003 as Consul at the Embassy in Tehran, and from 2005 to 2007 as the German ambassador’s representative to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union in Brussels. Subsequently, he was an advisor on European policy for the parliamentary group of the FDP in the Bundestag and worked from 2009 to 2011 as deputy chief and from 2011 to 2013 as chief of staff of Federal Minister Guido Westerwelle at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.
In 2013, he was appointed ambassador and permanent representative of Germany to the United Nations in New York. Thoms held various positions in international organizations in that city by virtue of his office, including vice president of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2015) and vice president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (2016). In 2017, he moved to the Permanent Representation of Germany to NATO in Brussels as envoy and deputy chief.
Heiko Thoms was deputy permanent representative to NATO (2017-2020) and ambassador to the United Nations in New York (2013-2017). He was ambassador to Brazil from July 2020 until he was appointed Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of Finance under Federal Minister Christian Lindner. He succeeded Carsten Pillath and was responsible for European policy, international financial policy, and financial market policy. He remained in office under Federal Minister Jörg Kukies, before leaving this position on May 6, 2025, as part of the formation of Chancellor Fiedrich Merz’s cabinet. On September 17, 2025, Heiko Thoms was officially appointed German ambassador to Ukraine.
From April 2023 to May 2025, he served as Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of Finance, responsible for Europe, international financial policy, and financial markets, and acted as the representative of the German Minister of Finance in the EU, G7, and G20. In this role, he coordinated Germany’s financial assistance to Ukraine and played a key role in aligning Ukraine-related support within the EU and the G7.
Heiko Thoms is the founding president of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics (Brussels Institute for Geopolitics or BIG), the first and only think tank (think tank) in the European capital dedicated exclusively to geopolitics and continental strategy. Founded in 2022 with the support of several European Union leaders, its mission is to help Europe adapt to the new era of great power politics and foster a true European strategic culture.
The new German ambassador to Spain is an active marathon runner and is married to Anahita Thoms, an international trade lawyer and Global Young Leader of the World Economic Forum. They have two children.
