More than 20 management appointments announced.
By Constant Brand
The European Commission today announced a reshuffle of senior management that will meet some of the calls for improved geographic balance.
The Commission has made 23 appointments across 13 departments, in the third wave of appointments since the second Commission under José Manuel Barroso took office in February.
As part of the reorganisation, seven posts reserved for member states that joined in 2004 and 2007 were filled. One has been given to Mihail Dumitru, Romania’s former minister of agriculture, who was appointed director in charge of rural development in the Commission’s agriculture department.
In addition, three new deputy secretaries-general of the Commission were appointed – including Christian Danielsson, Sweden’s ambassador and permanent representative to the EU. The other two are Marianne Klingbeil, a German who is currently director of better regulation, evaluation and impact assessment in the Commission’s secretariat-general, and Michel Servoz, a Frenchman who moves from being director responsible for better regulation and co-ordination.
Martin Sechell, previously director for environmental protection in Malta’s environmental and planning authority, was appointed deputy director-general in the Commission’s department for health and consumers. Ladislav Miko, a Czech national, moves from director of nature in the Commission’s environment department to the post of deputy director-general in the same department.
In the agriculture department, Rudolf Mögele, a German who is currently director dealing with agricultural legislation, has been appointed as a deputy director-general, as has Joao Pacheco, the head of the EU’s delegation in Brazil.
Xavier Prats-Monne, a Spaniard who is currently director of employment, the Lisbon strategy and international affairs in the Commission’s employment department, has been appointed deputy director-general in the Commission’s education and culture department.
Robert Verrue, director-general in the Commission’s employment, social affairs and equal opportunities department, had already announced he would leave the DG and has been named as a special ‘Hors Classe’ adviser dealing with economic and social issues in the Commission’s secretariat-general.
The Commission also announced that it had decided to follow the recommendation of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament in appointing Giovanni Kessler as director-general of the EU’s anti-fraud office, OLAF. Kessler, a member of the Italian parliament and a former anti-mafia prosecutor, will head a staff of 500 people at OLAF.
Below is a list of the other appointments:
Jonas Rasimas, currently chair of Lithuania’s competition council, has been appointed director in charge of energy and environmental issues in the Commission’s competition department.
Tudor Constantinescu, a Romanian and executive director of the Buildings Performance Institute Europe, has been appointed as a principle adviser in the Commission’s energy department.
Catalin Fotache, a Romanian who is the current general manager of the United Technologies Research Centre in the United States, has been appointed as a principle adviser in the Commission’s research department.
Myria Vassiliadou, a Cypriot national who works as the secretary-general of the European Women’s Lobby, has been appointed to the post of anti-trafficking co-ordinator for the Commission’s home affairs department.
Jolita Butkeviciene, a Lithuanian national, moves from being a head of unit in the Commission’s EuropeAid office to principle adviser in the same department.
Jaroslaw Porejski, a Polish national, has been appointed a principle adviser in the Commission’s interpretation department. He had previously been a head of unit in the Commission’s competition department.
Paraskevi Michou, a Greek who is currently a head of unit in the Commission’s information society and media department, has been appointed director in charge of civil justice issues in the Commission’s justice department.
Peter Betts, currently director and acting director-general of the international climate change unit in the UK’s department of energy and climate change, has been appointed as a principle adviser in the Commission’s climate department.
Kai-Uwe Kühn, a German and professor of economics at Michigan University in the US, has been appointed chief economic adviser in the Commission’s competition department.
Tung-Lai Margue, previously a director in the Commission’s external relations department, has been appointed head of service of the Foreign Policy Instruments Service.
Alan Seatter, previously director of the North America, East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe desk at the Commission’s external relations department, has been appointed director in the Commission’s secretariat in charge of better regulation and co-ordination.
Francisco Merchan Cantos moves from being director responsible for audit in the Commission in the Internal Audit Service to director of the audit unit in the Commission’s employment department.
Carlo Pettinelli moves from director responsible for audits, control in the Commission’s employment department to become resource director in the Commission’s enterprise and industry department.
