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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 31, 2001

Nomination
President Bush to Nominate Schnabel to be Representative of the United States of America to the European Union

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate Rockwell A. Schnabel to be Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the Rank and Status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

"Rockwell Schnabel has extensive experience working with European nations as an international financier, former official at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and past diplomat.  He will be an excellent Representative of the United States to the E.U. at this critical juncture in our relationship as we work together toward a new global trade round and look to expand our relationship with Europe," said President Bush.

Ambassador Schnabel is presently the Co-Chairman of Trident Capital in Los Angeles, California.  From 1989 to 1992, Schnabel served at the Department of Commerce, first as Under Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism, then as Acting Secretary of Commerce and then as Deputy Secretary of Commerce.  In 1986, Schnabel was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to Finland, a post he held until 1989.   Schnabel was a Member of the Los Angeles Olympic Committee, serving as the Envoy to the Netherlands for the 1984 Olympic Games.

Schnabel is the recipient of the Medal of Honor given by the Netherlands Olympic Commitee and the Gold Medal awarded by the Dutch government, both given for work preformed for the 1984 Olympic Games. In 1989, the President of Finland awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland, and he received the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award, the Department's highest honor.  Originally from the Netherlands, he is a graduate of Trinity College in the Netherlands.

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