Keep track of developments in the European institutions and public affairs with our Movers and Shakers column.
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European Parliament
Outgoing
Croatian MEP Ruža Tomašić (ECR) has announced her retirement. Tomašić will leave the Parliament after an eight-year stint, having first been elected in 2013, then re-elected in 2014, and again in 2019. She is considered the most active Croatian MEP and as of 2019 the Parliament adopted 5 of her reports, 28 reports on which she worked as a shadow rapporteur, 573 of her amendments and 293 resolutions. Tomašić was a member on the Fisheries Committee (PECH) as well as the Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo Delegation. She will be replaced by Ladislav Ilčić who has said that he will continue to fight for Croatian fishermen in the European Parliament as part of the ECR group. Ilčić intends to join the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) to fight for more subsidies for low-energy construction and renewable energy.
MEP News
Eight MEPs: Virigine Joron (ID, FR), Hervé Juvin (ID, FR), Jean-Lin Lacapelle (ID, FR), Thierry Mariani (ID, FR), Philippe Olivier (ID, FR), Clare Daly (The Left, IE), Mick Wallace (The Left, IE) and Manu Pineda (The Left, ES) have been barred from going on official Parliament election-observation missions until the end of this year. The MEPs have been accused of going on fake election-observation trips by the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG).
Committees and Delegations
Substitutes
Viola von Cramon-Taubadel (Greens/EFA) joins the Culture and Education Committee (CULT).
Rosanna Conte has (ID, IT) has joined the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI), replacing Annalisa Tardino (ID,IT).
European Commission
Directorates-General and Services
Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN)
Erik Canton replaces Alexandr Hobza as head of unit B2 (Economics of structural reforms and investment) in an acting capacity.
Health and Food Safety (SANTE)
Americo Beviglia Zampetti has been appointed adviser on the external dimension of health.
Informatics (DIGIT)
Angeliki Chlapani replaces Joaquin Perez-Echague as head of unit B1 (Solutions for Grants & Procurement) in an acting capacity.
Thomas Gageik replaces Magnus Kumlin as head of unit B2 (Solutions for Legislation, Policy & HR) also in an acting capacity.
Internal Audit Service (IAS)
Adrian Mircea replaces Paul Desfosse as head of unit C1 (Research and Innovation).
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE)
Izolda Bulvinaite is now acting head of unit E3 (HR Business correspondant, IT and Electronic Document Management) replacing Simona Lupu.
Public Affairs
Association for European Manufacturers of Expanded Polystyrene (EUMEPS)
Jürgen Lang has been appointed as Managing Director as of 1 July. Lang was previously with Eurocommerce where, for three years, he was Advisor for Trade and Taxation. EUMEPs is the trade association for the expanded polystyrene (EPS) value chain.
European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE)
Folker Franz (DE) will assume the role of Director-General on 1 August 2021. Franz was most recently Head of Government Relations for the EU at Hitachi ABB Power Grids and the ABB Group, a multinational corporation active in power and industrial automation technologies . Before joining ABB in 2012, Franz worked at BusinessEurope, the European business federation as Industrial Affairs Director. Franz replaces Andrea Voigt who has successfully led the work of EPEE for the past 12 years.
ePURE, the European renewable ethanol association
Valérie Corre of French agri-cooperative Tereos has been appointed as President for a two-year term. Corre, who is Director of Regulatory Affairs Alcohol/Ethanol Europe for Tereos, had previously served as ePURE’s Vice-President. Corre replaces Alarik Sandrup, Director of Public and Regulatory Affairs at Lantmännen, who had served as ePURE’s President since 2019. Members also elected Stephan Meeder, CEO of German ethanol producer CropEnergies, as the association’s new Vice-President.
Grayling
Grayling has welcomed several new recruits to its EU Public Affairs Team. Hannah Thominet, Dorottya Meszner and Ruth Artiles Valero all have extensive experience working with and within the EU institutions and join as Senior Consultant and Account Executives respectively.
Incisive Health
Agnes Brandt and Aurélie Marchand have been appointed the new co-acting heads of the Incisive Health Brussels office. Both are longstanding members of the Incisive Health team. They replace Francesca Scassellati, who’s leaving the company to pursue another opportunity. For the official announcement, please see here.
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National News
Finland
The chair of the Left Alliance, Li Andersson, has been appointed minister of education after returning from parental leave while Hanna Sarkkinen has been appointed minister of social affairs and health. Andersson and Sarkkinen replace Jussi Saramo and Aino-Kaisa Pekonen respectively.
Sweden
Prime minister Stefan Löfven resigned Monday after losing the confidence of key allies last week. The speaker of parliament asked Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the Moderate Party (EPP), to see whether he could rally votes to succeed Löfven however Kristersson has been unsuccessful and Löfven has been tasked with forming a new government.
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