Silvio started his career at the EU in 1988. Prior to his appointment in the European External Action Service (EEAS), he was Head of the Secretariat of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, where his responsibilities included advising the chair regarding the organization of the activities of the committee, as well as contacts with other EU institutions.
In July 2014, Silvio was appointed Director for Human Rights and Democracy at EEAS. In this capacity, he was responsible for the organization and content of all HR-related dialogues and consultations between the EU and partner countries (over 40 of them), the development of policy guidelines, and guidance to EU bilateral and multilateral delegations in matters pertaining to HR and democracy support. He was also responsible for Election Observation activities.
In September 2015, he was appointed Director for Interinstitutional relations, Policy coordination and Public diplomacy at the EEAS. His responsibilities covered relations with all EU institutions and representation of the EEAS in negotiations having institutional or legal implications, including sanctions. He was in charge of coordinating all political and legislative files and preparing the meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council. He was also responsible for public diplomacy activities (including promoting cultural affairs in EU external relations), strategic communication issues. In this context he oversaw the EEAS communications strategy.
On May 1 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations in New York.