Annalisa Giannella started her career in 1972 as a European official. She worked on European Community matters until March 1994. She headed the Secretariat for the EEC-Switzerland agreement on insurance and was member of the team in charge of negotiations with EFTA countries on the Lugano Convention. From 1994 to February 2002, she worked on the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty, first as Head of Division for Security matters, then, from September 1999, as Director for Security and Defence Policy. In this capacity she contributed to the development of the ESDP. In February 2002, President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, in his capacity of Chairman of the European Convention on the future of Europe, appointed Ms Giannella Deputy Secretary general of the Convention. On October 10, 2003, the EU High Representative, Javier Solana, appointed Ms. Giannella as his personal representative on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to co-ordinate, help implement and further develop the EU strategy on WMD. She was also responsible for implementation of the EU strategy on small arms and light weapons, adopted in 2005, and assisted EU Member States in their efforts to coordinate their policies on conventional arms exports controls.
From autumn 2004 she assisted the High Representative Javier Solana in the EU/E3 negotiations with Iran on the nuclear issue. In December 2010, Annalisa Giannella was appointed Director for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament in the newly created EU External Action Service. She retired in 2011.