Today's Movers & Shakers are about: EEAS restructuring, new Permanent Representatives, new ministerial appointments, elections updates, latest on Brexit and more.
European Parliament:
President Martin SCHULZ (S&D, DE) met Turkish President Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN on Tuesday 1 September in Ankara amid growing concerns from MEPs on the respect of human rights and the rule of law, following a coup attempt on 15 July. Read more.
National parties:
Croatia: Andrej PLENKOVIĆ (EPP) is set to lead his party, HDZ into the country's general elections on 11 September after he was elected President. Read more.
Denmark: Morten MESSERSCHMIDT (ECR) stepped down as Chair of the Danish People's Party's sub-group in the European Parliament. Read more.
United Kingdom:
Conservative Party: Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR) was officially awarded a life peerage. It is unclear whether he will resign as an MEP or whether he will take a leave of absence from the House of Lords. He has yet to be officially introduced to the House of Lords. Read more.
Labour Party: Sion SIMON (S&D) was selected as candidate for Mayor of West Midlands.
Scottish National Party: Alyn SMITH (Greens/EFA) was confirmed as candidate for Deputy Leader of the party.
Green Party: Molly SCOTT CATO (Greens/EFA) was appointed as the Green Party’s spokesperson on issues related with Brexit.
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP): announced the leadership candidates. Among them are EFDD MEPs Diane JAMES and Bill ETHERIDGE, while Steve WOOLFIE was eliminated and Jonathan ARNOTT withdrew from the contest. Nathan GILL announced he is stepping down from the party's group in the Welsh Assembly and he will sit as independent. However, he is not leaving the party and his seat as a UKIP MEP.
European Commission:
Commissioners:
On 2 August President JUNCKER announced that he would be assigning a Security Union portfolio to the incoming Commissioner for the UK, Sir Julian KING. The role will be overseen by First Vice-President Frans TIMMERMANS and will support the work of the Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris AVRAMOPOULOS. Sir Julian will be supported by a Task Force made up of experts from across the Commission, which will be supervised by the Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs, Matthias RUETE. Sir Julian’s position awaits approval by the European Parliament. He will be subject to a hearing by the LIBE committee on 12 September.
Directorates General:
Health and Food Safety (SANTE):
Directorate F – Heath and Food Audits Analysis: Paola COLOMBO became Director on 1 August.
Don't miss next week's newsletter with details on the latest updates of the Directorates General.
International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO):
Directorate A – Development Policy and International Cooperation: Chantal MARIJINISSEN became acting Head of Unit, ‘Financing and Effectiveness’, replacing Erika GERRETSEN-PHIPPS. Ms MARIJINISSEN is also Deputy Head of the unit.
Erika GERRETSEN-PHIPPS became Head of Unit, ‘Budget Support and Public Finance Management’, replacing José CORREIA NUNES.
Task Force Knowledge, Performance and Results: Marjeta JAGER became Acting Principle Adviser, replacing Androulla KAMINARA.
Secretariat General (SG):
Directorate B – Institutional and Administrative Policies: Pascal LEARDINI became Director, replacing Deputy Secretary-General Paraskevi MICHOU who was acting in the role. Mr LEARDINI moved from Directorate F where he was Director.
Spokesperson’s Service (SPP):
Better Regulation, Interinstitutional Affairs; Rule of Law, Charter of Fundamental Rights: Katarzyna KOLANKO became Press Officer, replacing Tim MCPHIE who now focuses on his role as Editor in the Multimedia team.
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: EEAS Spokesperson, Catherine RAY is on leave until spring 2017 and Nabila MASSRALI will be acting in the position in the meantime.
European External Action Service (EEAS):
Secretariat General:
Helga Maria SCHMID took up her new role as Secretary General on 1 September, replacing Alain LE ROY, who resigned for personal reasons. Jean-Christophe BELLIARD took over from SCHMID as ‘Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs – Political Director for EEAS’ moving from his previous role as Director for ‘African and Indian Ocean’ in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Multilateral Departments:
BA – Budget and Administration: Anette MANDLER became Head of Task Force, ‘Regional Centre Europe’, replacing Corrado PAMPALONI. Ms MANDLER moved from the now dissolved ‘Human Rights, Global and Multilateral Issues’ Division.
MD-GLOBAL – Human rights, global and multilateral issues: a new ‘Human Rights’ Division has been created, merging the two Divisions that dealt with human rights (previously, GLOBAL.1 and GLOBAL.2). Mercedes GARCIA PEREZ became the Head of this Division, replacing Elizabeth TISON. What was the second Division has been replaced with ‘Economic and global issues’ with Dominic PORTER as Head of Division, replacing Anette MANDLER. The Division formerly known as ‘Global Issues’ has been replaced by ‘Migration and Human Security’, with Leonello GABRICI heading the division. Leonello GABRICI also became acting Deputy Managing Director, replacing Stephan AUER.
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MD-ASIAPAC – Asia and Pacific: The former Divisions ‘India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh’ and ‘Horizontal affairs’ have been merged into one Division, ‘Regional Affairs, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh’, led by Veronica CODY. The former Divisions ‘Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand’ and ‘Pacific’ have been combined to form a new Division, ‘Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Pacific’, with Julian WILSON as Head of Division. Mr WILSON also became acting Deputy Managing Director, replacing Ugo ASTUTO.
MD-MENA - Middle East and North Africa: the Division ‘Regional Policies for the Southern Mediterranean’ has been dissolved and its staff have been reassigned to the new Division ‘Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and Regional Policies’ and the existing Division ‘Strategy and instruments of the ENP’. In addition, Vincent PIKET has replaced Bernard SAVAGE as Head of Division, ‘Maghreb’.
SECPOL – Security policy and conflict prevention: François RIVASSEAU became acting Director, replacing Joëlle JENNY. Stefano TOMAT became acting Head of Division, ‘Conflict prevention, peace building and mediation’, replacing Małgorzata WASILEWSKA. David GEER became Head of Division, ‘Sanctions policy’, replacing Francesco FINI.
INTCEN – EU intelligence and situation centre: Petros MAVROMICHALIS became Head of Division, ‘Open source intelligence’, replacing Jozef MOLNAR. Rafael DOCHAO MORENO became Head of Division, ‘Situation room’, replacing Petros MAVROMICHALIS.
CPCC – Civilian planning and conduct capability: Jean-Marc PISANI became Head of Division, ‘Conduct of operations’, replacing Mercedes GARCIA PEREZ. Stephan HUBER became Head of Division, ‘Mission support’, replacing Guy LEDOUX.
Angelos PANGRATIS became the Hors Classe Adviser for ‘economic diplomacy’ and is attached to the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Economic and Global Issues.
Missions to the EU:
Serbia: Ana HRUSTANOVIC was appointed as Ambassador to the EU on 22 August, replacing Duško LOPANDIĆ who was sacked from his position in June.
Permanent Representations:
Belgium: François ROUX was appointed as the new Permanent Representative, replacing Dirk WOUTERS, while Jan HOOGMARTENS took over Olivier BELLE as Deputy Permanent Representative.
Bulgaria: Maria KOLEVA took over Petia VASSILEVA as Deputy Permanent Representative.
Czech Republic: Jaroslav ZAJÍČEK succeeded Jakub DÜRR as Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU.
Estonia: Kaja TAEL began her new role as Permanent Representative to the EU on 26 August, replacing Matti MAASIKAS.
Luxembourg: Deputy Permanent Representative Georges FRIDEN became the new Permanent Representative, taking over from Christian BRAUN. Mike HENTGES replaced FRIDEN as Deputy Representative.
European Investment Bank (EIB):
Management Committee:
Andrew MCDOWELL joined the European Investment Bank as Vice-President on 1 September. Mr MCDOWELL moves to the EIB from a position in the Irish government as Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister. He was nominated for the role by Ireland’s Finance Minister and proposed by the EIB Board of Directors. He was successfully appointed by the Board of Governors and will serve a four year term.
Board of Directors:
Finland: Joanna TIKKANEN was appointed as an Alternate Member, following approval by the Board of Governors on 9 August. Ms TIKKANEN is a Ministerial Advisor to the Finnish Finance Ministry. She replaced Karin RYSAVY who had resigned with effect from 29 June. Ms TIKKANEN’s term will expire in 2018.
Malta: Stanley MIFSUD was appointed as a Full Member, following approval by the Board of Governors on 19 August. Mr MIFSUD is CEO of the Malta Investment Management Co. Ltd – MIMCOL and Advisor to the Minister for Finance. He replaced Noel CAMILLERI who had tendered his resignation. Mr MIFSUD’s term will expire in 2018.
Public Affairs:
Cefic: Aaron MCLOUGHLIN was appointed as the new Executive Director of Public Affairs, as of 1 August. He is on secondment from FleishmanHillard, where he is Senior Vice President and Senior Adviser in its environment and chemicals practice.
Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE): Brother Olivier POQUILLON OP took up his new role as Secretary-General on 1 September.
European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA): Paolo ALBURNO was appointed as the new Technical Director, replacing Louis-Sylvain AYRAL who retired. He took up his duties on 27 July.
European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA): Erzsébet FITORI left her position as Director to take on a new role as the new Director General of the FTTH Council Europe as of 1 September.
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European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants (ZEP): the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) staff recently started to support ZEP under the Horizon 2020 call from the European Commission to provide support for the CCS stakeholders through ZEP. The current ZEP structure is expected to remain the same and CCSA staff will work under the guidance and direction of the ZEP Advisory Council.
European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA): Bernard UYTTENDAELE took up his new role as Chief Executive on 16 August. UYTTENDAELE was previously Managing Director of War Children in the Netherlands.
Ofcom: Kevin BUKHUST was appointed as Content Group Director. He was previously Deputy Director General, recently the Acting Director General, and Managing Director for News and Current Affairs.
Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE): Boyana ACHOVSKI was appointed as Secretary-General on 1 September. ACHOVSKI was previously Vice-Executive Secretary.
RPP Group (formerly known as Rohde Public Policy): bolstered its advocacy offering by appointing Thomas KRINGS as Senior Director, Advocacy and Policy. Mr KRINGS was previously Deputy Secretary-General of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament and during his career he has also served as member of European Commission Vice President Olli Rehn’s cabinet.
News in a nutshell:
Latest on Brexit: 'Stronger In Europe', which led the campaign for the UK to stay in the EU, has re-launched as the 'Open Britain' campaign. Read more. Several UK regional offices have revealed they intend to remain in Brussels despite Britain's decision to quit the EU. Read more. First Minister Nicola STURGEON appointed former Education Secretary and Scottish National party chief executive Michael RUSSELL as Minister for UK negotiations on Scotland's place in Europe. In his new assignment, RUSSELL will mainly be focusing on political alliances and possible conflicts with the UK government and will be reporting directly to STURGEON.
Estonia: MPs failed to elect a President after the third voting round on 30 August. An electoral college will convene on 24 September in an attempt to select the new Head of the state. Former-Commissioner Siim KALLAS is among the favourites.
Finland: Minister of Social Affairs and Health Hanna MÄNTYLÄ resigned for personal reasons. Pirkko MATTILA took over the reins of the Ministry.
France: Minister for Economy Emmanuel MACRON resigned on Tuesday 30 August to focus on the political movement, named "On the Move" (En Marche) he launched a few months ago. Minister for Finance Michel SAPIN took over his portfolio. Minister for Overseas George PAU-LANGEVIN also tendered her resignation for personal reasons. Ericka BAREIGTS replaced her.
Romania: The general elections will be held on 11 December, it was announced. Delia POPESCU was appointed as the new Minister for Communications and Information Society, replacing Marius BOSTAN, who was dismissed by Prime Minister Dacian CIOLOȘ. Ioan-Dragos TUDORACHE was acting the role in the meantime. Interior Minister Petre TOBA resigned on 1 September amid corruption scandal.
Spain: Acting Prime Minister Mariano RAJOY failed to win the second vote of confidence on Friday 2 September that would allow him to form a new government and break the political deadlock after two inconclusive elections this year. The failure raises the prospect of a third election within a year.
Sweden: Minister for Upper Secondary School and Adult Education and Training Aida HADZIALIC, resigned after being caught driving under the influence of alcohol.
Candidate states:
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM): Early elections will be held on 11 December to put an end to the political turmoil. Election dates were twice cancelled earlier this year.
