Oana Lungescu
– Germany
2010 – 2023
- English
- French
Oana Lungescu was the principal Spokesperson for the North Atlantic Alliance, providing strategic advice to the NATO Secretary General, the North Atlantic Council, commands and NATO offices on press, media and social media from 2010 until September 2023.
Ms Lungescu is the first woman and first journalist to hold this position, the first to be born behind the Iron Curtain, and the longest-serving NATO Spokesperson to date. She has served under two NATO Secretaries General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Jens Stoltenberg. On 18 July 2023, Secretary General Stoltenberg awarded her the NATO Meritorious Service Medal.
Ms Lungescu coordinated NATO’s 24/7 media operations, as well as planning and directing the media aspects of all NATO events, including Summits and Ministerial meetings. She was also in charge of all speeches and publications by the NATO Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General. She has directed NATO communications throughout the most turbulent period since the Cold War. In 2016, Politico named Ms. Lungescu one of the most influential women in Brussels. In 2017, she was featured in “Women Leading the Way in Brussels” by Corinna Horst and Claudia de Castro Caldeirinha (John Harper Publishing Ltd).
Ms Lungescu joined NATO after a long journalistic career with the BBC World Service, where she covered EU and NATO affairs for radio, television and online in several languages. A German national, she was born in Romania. She joined the BBC's Romanian Service in London in 1985 and subsequently became deputy head and then editor. In 1997, she was appointed European affairs correspondent in Brussels, where she covered practically every EU and NATO summit. Between 2009-2010 she reported on European affairs from Berlin.
In 1999, she travelled to Chile and Argentina to report on the aftermath of military dictatorships as the recipient of an Onassis Bursary. In 2002, she was the recipient of a European Woman of Achievement Award. In 2010, she received a jury´s commendation in 2010 UACES – Thompson Reuters Reporting Europe awards for her documentary series “State Secrets” – about secret police archives and her own Securitate file. She contributed to "Child of Europe: An Anthology of New East European Poetry" (Penguin International Poets, 1991) and to "More From Our Own Correspondent" (Barnes&Noble, 2009).
Oana Lungescu speaks five languages and holds a Master’s Degree in English and Spanish Studies from the University of Bucharest.
Follow Oana on Instagram @oanalungescu and on LinkedIn.