Today's Movers & Shakers are about: the new and outgoing MEPs, the new Permanent Representative of Finland to the EU, latest appointments in the European Commission, public affairs news, Brexit and more.
Brexit negotiations key players wall chart:
With Brexit talks in full flow, our team have updated the wall chart with the key players from both sides.
Download our wall chart to get the most up-to-date breakdown of the UK and EU teams, including the names and titles of 24-person Article 50 Task Force.
European Parliament:
Outgoing:
Vice-President of the Parliament Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ (EPP, HU) left her seat to take up her new role as member of the European Court of Auditors.
Vice-Chair of the EFDD group Petr MACH (CZ) also left the parliament. The reason of his departure will be announced on Wednesday.
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Incoming:
Dennis RADTKE (EPP, DE) joined the Parliament as member, replacing Herbert REUL, who was appointed as interior minister in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Jonathan BULLOCK (EFDD, UK) replaced Roger HELMER, who retired at the end of July.
France JAMET (ENF, FR) joined as member, replacing Louis ALIOT, who was elected as an MP in France.
Composition of the committees and the delegations:
Substitutes:
France JAMET (ENF, FR) joined the committee on fisheries (PECH).
Marie-Christine ARNAUTU (ENF, FR) joined the committee on foreign affairs (AFET), replacing Jean-Luc SCHAFFHAUSER (ENF, FR).
Jonathan BULLOCH (EFDD, UK) joined the committee on budgetary control (CONT), replacing William DARTMOUTH (EFDD, UK).
Tim AKER (EFDD, UK) and Margot PARKER (EFDD, UK) joined the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE), replacing Mike HOOKEM (EFDD, UK).
Latest news:
Parliament has approved new EU rules which are designed to protect workers from carcinogens and mutagens in the workplace. The legislation was approved by 42 votes in favour, none against and eight abstentions by the employment committee. Read more
European Commission:
Commissioners’ cabinets:
Cabinet of Mariya GABRIEL: The cabinet of the Commissioner is now complete and comprised of:
Head of cabinet: Lora BORISSOVA
Deputy head of cabinet: Carl BUHR
Expert: Eric PETERS
Members of cabinet: Alina UJUPAN, Manuel MATEO and Andrea ALMEIDA CORDERO
Cabinet of Neven MIMICA:
Ana GALLO ALVAREZ replaced Paolo BERIZZI as member of the cabinet. Ms GALLO ALVAREZ has taken on Mr BERIZZI’s varied portfolio.
Directorates-General:
Health and Food Safety (SANTE):
Directorate A – Resource management and better regulation: Rossella DELFINO joined the directorate as Head of Unit ‘Legal Affairs’.
Directorate C – Public health, country knowledge, crisis management: Wolfgang PHILIPP became Head of Unit ‘Crisis management and preparedness in health’.
Directorate D – Food chain: stakeholder and international relations: Péter BOKOR became Head of Unit ‘Science, stakeholders, enforcement’ replacing Lorenzo TERZI. Antonio DI GIULIO became Head of Unit ‘Food safety programme, emergency funding’, replacing Christophe BERTRAND.
Directorate F – Frank ANDRIESSEN became Head of Unit ‘Food’ replacing Stefan HÖNIG. Mr HÖNIG swapped places with Mr ANDRIESSEN and became Head of ‘Country knowledge and work programme’.
Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW):
Directorate A – Competitiveness and European Semester: Iwona PIORKO became Head of Unit ‘International Affairs’ replacing Christos KYRIATZIS who was acting. Lubomira HROMKOVA became Head of ‘Communication, Access of Documents and Document Management’ replacing Bonifacio GARCÍA PORRAS.
Legal Service (SJ):
Teams: Fernando CASTILLO DE LA TORRE became Principal Legal Adviser for Agriculture and Fisheries replacing André BOUQUET who was acting.
Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO):
Directorate G – Smart and Sustainable Growth and Programme Implementation IV: Nicolas GIBERT-MORIN became Head of Unit ‘Italy and Malta’ replacing Rudolf NIESSLER who was acting in the role.
Secretariat General (SG):
Directorate B – Institutional and Administrative Policies: Christian LINDER became Head of Unit ‘Ethics’ replacing Donatienne CLAEYS-BOUUAERT.
Directorate D – Policy Co-ordination I: Jean-Yves MUYLLE became Head of Unit ‘Resource Efficiency’ replacing Peter HANDLEY.
Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD):
Directorate A – Customs Policy, Legislation, Tariff: Margarida ABECASIS became Head of Unit ‘Enterprise architecture and IT operations’ replacing Paul-Hervé THEUNISSEN who was acting in the role.
Directorate B – Security, safety, trade facilitation, rules of origin and international cooperation: Fernando PERREAU DE PINNINCK became Head of Unit ‘Trade facilitation, rules of origin and international coordination: Europe and neighbouring countries’ replacing Péter BOKOR.
Commission Regional Offices:
Milan: Massimo GAUDINA was appointed Head of the Milan office as of 1 September 2017. He replaced Fabrizio SPADA. Mr GAUDINA was previously Head of the Communication Unit at the European Research Council (ERC).
European Environment’s Agency (EEA):
Laura BURKE took up her position as the new chair of the Management Board, replacing Elisabeth Freytag-Rigler. Ms BURKE was previously head of Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Permanent Representations:
Finland: Marja RISLAKKI succeeded Pilvi-Sisko VIERROS-VILLENEUVE as Permanent Representative on 1 September. Prior to her appointment, she was ambassador of Finland to China, having previously served as deputy permanent representative to the EU.
Malta: Keith CARUANA is the new Press Officer of the Representation.
Public affairs:
Got any new appointment you would like us to include in our next newsletter? Contact Ifigenia Balkoura!
Acumen public affairs: Agnès LEROUX joined as account director. Agnès, who joins from gplus will be working on transport, energy, environment and DSM for the moment and she will be focusing on developing strong relations with the clients and creating tailored services.
Electoral Reform Society: Darren HUGHES was named as the new chief executive.
European Aluminium: Kelly ROEGIES joined the Brussels based association representing the aluminium value chain in Europe, on 16 August as a communications manager. Prior to joining, she worked as a strategic communications manager for a non-profit organisation and a Virtual Reality start-up company for the educational market. She has also worked as a senior corporate communications consultant for FTI Consulting in Brussels. In her new role, Kelly will be focusing on educating stakeholders about the unique properties of aluminium and the contribution the metal can make to meeting Europe’s sustainability challenges.
European Broadcasting Union (EBU): Former Managing Director of Television and Editor of Current Affairs of Ireland's RTÉ, Noel CURRAN took over from Ingrid DELTENRE as Director General.
Fourtold: Communication expert Frederique LUCA joined the Brussels team. She joins from Cambre Associates will be leading Fourtold’s work with the European Crop Protection Association and growing the Brussels business. The consultancy bolstered its team with another appointment, by hiring former New York Times and Dow Jones correspondent Paul MELLER, as a media consultant.
International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH): Patrick VERHOEVEN took up his new role as Managing Director Policy and Strategy. He was previously Secretary-General of the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA).
News in a nutshell:
Belgium: Denis DUCARME became the new minister for SMEs, agriculture and social integration, replacing Willy BORSUS, who was appointed as Minister-President of the Walloon government.
Brexit: The third round of the negotiation talks between the UK and the EU resumed on Monday 28 August. A press conference revealed a division between the two sides on fundamental issues. EU chief negotiator Michel BARNIER expressed his concern regarding the lack of clarity from the UK government about what it wants from Brexit negotiations, while he also warned that Britain's security will suffer after it leaves the EU, in an apparent rebuke to UK Prime Minister Theresa MAY. BARNIER said there was a lack of "trust" between the two sides as he accused the UK of preparing to walk away from its financial obligations after it leaves the bloc.
UK Brexit Secretary David DAVIS noted that "some concrete progress" was made this week. On citizens' rights he mentioned both sides agreed that they should protect the existing healthcare rights and arrangements reciprocally, while on the financial settlements the two sides have a different legal stance.
Addressing the employment committee on 30 August, the European Parliament Brexit coordinator Guy VERHOFSTADT, expressed his "fear that some people in the UK are still trying to establish a hard Brexit or would even want to walk out of the negotiations altogether." The ALDE group leader also warned of the talks between the EU and UK being slow and that it may be difficult to make sufficient progress on issues such as citizens' rights by October.
European Parliament President Antonio TAJANI also voiced his "concern and desire" to see "real progress" being made in the Brexit negotiations between the EU and UK. Read more.
Just before the kick off of the third round of negotiations, the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and Global Justice Now claimed the Brexit agreement is "not only being shaped at the negotiating table, but also by the lobbyists who are trying to influence each side's position papers." Read more.