Today’s Movers & Shakers are about: The Commission announces a new Director-General for its Legal Service, the Irish national nominated as Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency, all you need to know about the upcoming Germany Presidency of the Council of the EU, the latest Commission, public affairs appointments, and more!
European Parliament
Committees and Delegations
Budgetary Control (BUDG)
On Thursday, the committee endorsed the new Austrian candidate to the European Court of Auditors Helga BERGER. 16 members voted in favour and 11 against with 3 abstentions. BERGER is currently Director General of Budget and Public Finances in the Austrian federal ministry of finance. The recommendation from the committee needs to be backed in the plenary with a vote scheduled to take place during the 8-9 July session.
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European Commission
Commissioner cabinets
Executive Vice-president Frans Timmermans - European Green Deal
Former spokesperson for the Dutch permanent representation, Jori KEIJSPER, starts a new role as a communications adviser. KEIJSPER has extensive experience in politics and campaigning, having worked as a campaign manager with the Labour Party in the Netherlands before becoming first secretary in the Embassy of the Netherlands to the United States prior to her role in the Dutch Permanent Representation.
Directorates-General and Services
Legal Service (SJ)
Daniel CALLEJA CRESPO (ES) has been appointed Director-General to succeed Luis ROMERO REQUENA who will retire on 30 June. CALLEJA CRESPO, who is currently Director-General at DG ENV and will take up the position on 15 July.
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Council of the European Union
Eurogroup
On Thursday Spain proposed its Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia CALVIÑO, for the role of president, becoming the first country to formally announce a candidate. Irish finance minister Pascal DONOHOE followed suite together with his Luxembourgish counterpart Pierre GRAMEGNA.
EU Institutions and Agencies
European Medicine’s Agency
Director of regulation and pre-qualification at the World Health Organization, Emer COOKE (IE), has been appointed as Executive Director to succeed Guido RASI, whose term ends on 15 November. COOKE will be the first woman to head the agency in its 25-year history. COOKE has 30 years’ experience in international regulatory affairs, 18 years of which were in leadership roles. She worked for the pharmaceutical unit of the European Commission from 1998 to 2002 and at EMA between 2002 and 2016, where she held positions including Head of Inspections and Head of International Affairs.
Public Affairs
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC)
Wolfgang NIEDZIELLA has been elected president for the period 2022-24. NIEDZIELLA’s mandate as President-Elect will start on 1 January 2021. At this time, he will work alongside incumbent Dany STURTEWAGEN until the official handover on 1 January 2022.
European Committee for Standardization (CEN)
Stefano CALZOLARI has been elected as the next president for the 2022-24 term. He will take over from Vincent Laflèche on 31 January 2022.
European State Forest Association
The Board of Directors has appointed Teodor TIGAN, Director of the Arad Forest Directorate, as General Director of National Forest Administration-ROMSILVA with a provisional mandate, for a period of four months.
PlasticsEurope
Markus STEILEMANN, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Covestro, has been appointed President effective immediately. STEILEMANN succeeds Javier CONSTANTE who recently became President of Dow Latin America.
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German Presidency of the Council of the European Union
Germany will assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July 2020 for a six-month term. This means that, from July to December 2020, Germany will chair the meetings of the EU Council and will be responsible for progressing EU legislation.
Priorities
COVID-19: The programme for the Presidency will focus directly on overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic through joint approved action, European solidarity and common values. The goal is to prevent the coronavirus pandemic unravelling the European single market and threatening the integrity of the EU. It will be vital for the Presidency to work alongside European Council president Charles MICHEL and help broker a deal on the recovery fund alongside the upcoming seven-year EU budget.
Multiannual Financial Framework: Negotiations on the EU’s seven-year budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) will be at the forefront of the post-crisis reconstruction timetable since the budget is linked to the “Next Generation EU” reconstruction fund. Brokering a compromise between Member States will be the key challenge.
Climate Change: Climate change and the transition to a climate-neutral economy are also high on the agenda of the German presidency. Following on from the Commission’s Green Deal, consultations on European climate action legislation will be continued with the aim of making a binding commitment to achieving climate neutrality in Europe by 2050 and adjusting the targets for 2030.
Digitalisation: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted Europe’s digital dependence and the imperative for the EU to become sovereign in technological and digital terms. The establishment of a secure and trustworthy European data infrastructure is central to this goal.
Future Relations with the UK: After the summer, the agenda of the Presidency will become increasingly centred on discussions over a future EU-UK trade agreement with the aim of sealing a compromise deal at a summit on 15 October, according to Germany’s ambassador in Brussels.
Global Responsibility for Europe: German Chancellor Angela MERKEL has said that the world needs "Europe's strong voice to protect human dignity, democracy and liberty". Relations with Africa and forming a partnership with the continent will be a foreign policy priority during Germany's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Maintaining an open dialogue with China to work more on issues including an investment agreement and climate action, as well as the rule of law, human rights and the future of Hong Kong is also a priority.
Contacting the German Permanent Representation
The German Permanent Representation does not provide contact details for individual officials in its office. In order to contact the team, please refer to its website for a contact form, which will direct any questions or requests you may have to the relevant official.
Website of the German Presidency: www.eu2020.de
Online calendar of the German Presidency: Download here
Follow our colleagues @DodsDeutschland and @DodsEUM for all the latest updates concerning #EU2020DE.
Dods & Polit-X
Ahead of the German Presidency, Dods are pleased to announce a new collaboration with Polit-X. With comprehensive coverage of all relevant EU institutional, political and stakeholder sources, the combined service will bring together Dods’ extensive expertise on EU affairs via Polit-X.
Polit-X tools and services complement an existing Dods service well. The Polit-X monitoring and analysis features make it possible to quickly and easily monitor public and political content, such as the activities of all members of parliament in the German Bundestag and the federal states. This enables individual research on all political topics in full text. Combined with the know-how of the users, ad hoc tailor-made analyses can be carried out on Germany and the European Union.
Find out more here.
