In 1981 Pascal Lamy was technical Adviser, then deputy director (June 1982), Office of the Ministers for Economic and Financial Affairs (Mr Jacques Delors).

During his time there, Lamy became known as the Beast of the Berlaymont, the Gendarme and Exocet due to his habit of ordering civil servants, even Directors-General (heads of department) "precisely what to do – or else."

He was seen as ruling Delors' office with a "rod of iron", with no-one able to bypass or manipulate him and those who tried being "banished to one of the less pleasant European postings".

[4] During his time in office, he pushed for a new Doha round of world trade talks and advocated reform within the WTO.

He had been nominated by the European Union and won over candidates including Carlos Pérez del Castillo of Uruguay and Jaya Krishna Cuttaree of Mauritius.

On 30 April 2009, Lamy was re-elected unanimously by the WTO General Council for a second term of four years, beginning 1 September 2009.