***Scroll down to read the latest developments on the UK politics and Brexit***
European Parliament:
Incoming:
Angelo CIOCCA (ENF, IT) officially the Parliament, replacing Gianluca BUONANNO who died in a car accident. There are currently no outstanding vacant seats in the European Parliament.
Vice-Chairs of the Committees, Subcommittees and the Delegations:
Laima Liucija ANDRIKIENĖ (EPP, LT) was elected as Vice-chair of the Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, EU-Uzbekistan and EU-Tajikistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and for relations with Turkmenistan and Mongolia (D-CAS).
Substitutes of the Committees, Subcommittees and the Delegations:
Pilar AYUSO (EPP, ES) left the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) and joined the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE).
Gabriel MATO (EPP, ES) left the Committee on Petitions (PETI) and joined the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI).
Carlos ITURGAIZ (EPP, ES) left the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and joined the Committee on Petitions (PETI).
José BOVÉ (Greens/EFA, FR) left the Committee on Development (DEVE) and joined the Committee on International Trade (INTA).
Judith SARGENTINI (Greens/EFA, NL) left the Committee on International Trade (INTA) and joined the Committee on Development (DEVE).
National parties:
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP): EFDD MEPs Jonathan ARNOTT, Steven WOOLFE and Bill ETHERIDGE announced their candidacy for the party’s leadership, following the resignation of Nigel FARAGE from the post.
Special Committees:
Money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (PANA): The committee held its constitutive meeting on Tuesday 12 July and elected its Chair and Vice-Chairs. The following MEPs were elected:
Werner LANGEN (EPP, DE): Chair,
Ana GOMES (S&D, PT): First Vice-Chair
Pirkko RUOHONEN-LERNER (ECR, FI): Second Vice-Chair,
Fabio de MASI (GUE/NGL, DE): Third Vice-Chair,
Eva JOLY (Greens/EFA, FR): Fourth Vice-Chair
Petr JEŽEK (ALDE, CZ) has been nominated as rapporteur and another co-rapporteur will be appointed by S&D.
European Commission:
Commissioners: President Jean-Claude JUNCKER accepted Julian KING as the new British commissioner following a meeting between the two on Monday 7 July. JUNCKER will assign Sir Julian a portfolio by the end of the month.
Representations in the Member States:
Lisbon, Portugal: Sofia COLARES ALVES has been appointed as Head. She will take up office on 16 July.
Directorates General:
Agriculture and Rural Development:
Commissioner Phil HOGAN launched a new Meat Market Observatory on 15 July at its first Board meeting. This follows the model of the Milk Market Observatory which was launched in April 2014. The aim of the new Observatory will be improving market transparency for beef, veal and pig meat sectors enabling a better understanding of market fluctuations, and how to cope with them. The Observatory is a website on which pricing, production and trade is regularly updated and short-term analysis is reported. There will also be an Economic Board which will meet at least three times a year and will comprise of representatives from the supply chain. The Board is formally a Commission Expert Group and is chaired by a representative of the Commission (Director AGRI C – current Jens SCHAPS).
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Climate Action (CLIMA):
Yvon SLINGENBERG was appointed as a Director on 13 July, joining the DG from the Cabinet of Climate Action and Energy Commissioner, Miguel Arias CAÑETE, where she is a cabinet expert. She will begin her new role on 1 November 2016.
Education and Culture (EAC):
Antoaneta ANGELOVA-KRASTEVA was appointed as a Director. She is currently Head of Unit, ‘Policy Outreach and International Affairs’, in DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNNECT). Her start date and responsibilities are yet to be confirmed.
European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO):
Directorate D – General Affairs: Chiara GARIAZZO will become Director, ‘General Affairs’ on 16 July, replacing Jean-Pierre BUISSERET who is currently acting in the role. Ms GARIAZZO is currently Director, ‘Modernisation of Education I: Europe 2020, country analysis, Erasmus+ coordination’ in DG Education and Culture (EAC). Mr BUISSERET is Head of Unit, ‘Information System Management and Reporting’.
Human Resources and Security (HR):
Bernard MAGENHANN was appointed as Deputy Director-General. Mr MAGENHANN is currently Director of ‘Resource Management and Optimisation’ in DG Informatics (DIGIT). He has been in his current role since 2013 and has had a number of roles in the Commission since joining from the private sector in 2002. He will begin his new role on 1 September 2016.
Mobility and Transport (MOVE):
Matthew BALDWIN was appointed as Deputy Director-General on 13 July. Mr BALDWIN is currently Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Jonathan HILL. Mr BALDWIN will take up his new position next week following Mr HILL’s departure from the Commission.
Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO):
Eric VON BRESKA was appointed as a Director. Mr VON BRESKA is current Head of Unit, ‘Economic Analysis’, in DG REGIO. His start date and responsibilities are yet to be confirmed.
Council of the European Union:
General Secretariat:
Directorate-General A - Administration: Kristin VAN HOOLST became Director, Directorate 2B ‘Buildings, Logistics’ replacing Sergio ZANGAGLIA. Ms VAN HOOLST was previously Head of Unit, ‘Buildings’. This position is now currently vacant. Minna VUORIO became Director, Directorate 3A ‘Translation’. Ms VUORIO moved from Directorate 3B where she was Head of Unit, ‘Resources and Translation Support’. This position is now currently vacant.
Directorate-General B – Agriculture, Fisheries, Social Affairs and Health: the DG was reorganised to condense three Directorates into two. Directorate 1 formerly dealt with Agriculture but has now taken on Social Policy from Directorate 3 to be called ‘Agriculture and Social Policy’. Directorate 2 has taken on the food and health aspects of Directorate 3 to become ‘Fisheries, Food and Health’. Former Director of Directorate 3, Sandor SZABO left the DG whilst the other staff remain in their positions.
Directorate-General E – Environment, Education, Transport and Energy: Berthold BERGER became Director, Directorate 1 – ‘Environment, Education, Youth, Culture, Audiovisual and Sport’, replacing Marius HIRTE. Didier SEEUWS, Director of Directorate 2 – ‘Transport, Telecommunications and Energy’ is currently seconded to the Task Force UK, which is directly attached to the Secretary-General.
Directorate-General G – Economic Affairs and Competitiveness: Marius HIRTE became Director, Directorate 3 – ‘Competitiveness’, swapping positions with Berthold BERGER.
European Stability Mechanism (ESM):
Odil RENAUD BASSO joined the Board of Directors and the Board of Governors following her appointment as the first female Director of the French Treasury in June. She replaced Bruno BÉZARD who left the Treasury for a position at the investment fund Cathay Capital.
European Investment Bank (EIB):
Anne PAUGAM left her position as Alternate for France on the Board of Directors, creating a vacant role. Rasmus MORTENSEN joined the Board of Directors as an Alternate for Romania, having been nominated on 22 June and formally appointed on 5 July. He replaced Nico PETRIS who resigned with effect from 1 July 2016. Mr MORTENSEN’s term will run until 2018.
European Central Bank:
Directorate General Administration: Jean-Marie CONNES replaced Robert KLIMOWSKI as Head, ‘Security and Safety Division’ as of 1 July.
Public affairs:
Conference of European Churches (CEC): Aikaterini PEKRIDOU will join the Brussels team in late 2016 as Dialogue Secretary.
ESOMAR: Kim Leonard SMOUTER, previously Government Affairs Manager, has now been promoted to Head of Public Affairs & Professional Standards. Mr SMOUTER will be supported in his tasks by Joke RUWEN and Jan-Willem KNIBBE who have been named Professional Standards Executive and Policy and Industry Projects Executive respectively.
European Aluminium: Kjetil EBBESBERG, Executive Vice President of the Rolled Products business area at Hydro was appointed as the new Chair, replacing Pierre VAREILLE.
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European Journalism Centre (EJC): Adam Thomas will succeed Wilfried RÜTTEN as Director effective 1 January 2017. THOMAS will be working with Mr RÜTTEN on the transition.
European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA): Cornelia TIETZ became the new Director for EHS and Climate Action and she will be focusing on energy, climate change, health and safety and the environment.
Goldman Sachs: Former European Commission President José Manuel BARROSO was appointed as non-Executive Chairman. MEPs outraged at the appointment and are demanding he is sanctioned for taking a job with Goldman Sachs, saying he has failed to “behave with integrity and discretion. Read more.
Hanover Group: launched a new communications agency, named Playbook. The agency the services of which will be focusing on sport, active health, wellbeing and technology will be led by Eddie MAY. Hanover’s Managing Director Gavin Megaw was appointed as Director of the agency.
Interel: Michael MURPHY and Patrick de BELLEFROID joined the Board. Mr MURPHY will be focusing on innovation and business development, while Mr de BELLEFROID will provide financial counsel accelerate global growth.
News in a nutshell:
France: 84 killed after truck ploughs through Bastille Day crowd in Nice. Read more.
Slovenia: Finance Minister Dusan MRAMOR resigned on 13 July due to personal reasons. Minister for European Cohesion Alenka SMERKOLJ will be acting the role until a new Minister is appointed.
United Kingdom: Theresa MAY officially became the new Prime Minister on Wednesday 13 July, after Andrea LEADSOM quit the Conservative Party leadership bid. Ms MAY became the second female Prime Minister after Margaret THATCHER. Interested in MAY’s profile and stance on key policy areas? Download Dods Monitoring briefing here.
The cabinet was heavily reshuffled. Among the most important changes, Foreign Secretary Philip HAMMOND was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer, replacing George OSBORNE who resigned. Former Mayor of London and MP Boris JOHNSON was appointed as Foreign Secretary, replacing Philip HAMMOND. JOHNSON was campaigning to leave the EU and his appointment to the top diplomatic role came as surprise to Brussels bubble. Read the reactions.
Two new Ministries are to be established and will be related to the negotiations about leaving the EU. David DAVIS was appointed as Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, while Liam FOX as Secretary of State for International Trade. For the latest developments and the composition of the new cabinet follow the live updates from our colleagues Politics Home website.
EU reaction to Theresa MAY’s appointment centres on when she is likely to trigger contentious Article 50 countdown process. Read more.
The UK’s outgoing EU Commissioner Jonathan HILL spoke of his support for building a Capital Markets Union (CMU) in his final appearance before the ECON committee. Read more.
Turkey: A coup was attempted on Friday 15 July but failed. The death toll has risen to around 300. Some 6000 people have been arrested, among them soldiers, generals and army commanders, while judges have been sacked. The EU has urged the Turkish government not size the opportunity to breach the rule of law.
