Pedro Miguel Santos de Sampaio Nunes was Deputy Director General of the Secretariat for European Accession in Portugal (1983) and Deputy Director General of the Directorate General of European Communities at the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1985). In this context, he was In charge of the co-ordination of the sectoral Ministries for the COREPER I subjects, of the liaison with the Portuguese Permanent Representation and the Commission, as well as of the preparation of the Portuguese civil service from the interim period of EC membership to full integration. From 1986 to 1993, he was Deputy Chef de Cabinet of the European Commissioner Cardoso e Cunha. He was subsequently appointed Director of Energy Technology in the European Commission in 1993, Director of Conventional Energies in 2000, Director of Information Society Strategy and e-Europe in the DG for Information Society in 2003, and Director of Internet, Network Security and General Affairs in that same DG in 2004. He left the Commission when he was appointed Secretary of State for Science and Innovation in the Portuguese Government in July 2004.