 Between 1988 and 1993, he was the head of both the "national and Community monetary policies" and "international monetary and financial matters" within the Commission.In 1991 he was seconded to the US Federal Reserve Board in Washington, and between 1992 and 1993 he advised the Minister of Finance of Portugal.He then returned to the European Commission in 1994 as Director for monetary matters and became the "Director for Economy of the euro zone and the European Union" between 1999 and 2002.