Today's Movers & Shakers are about: The new MEP and the latest changes in the composition of the political groups in the Parliament, latest appointments in the European Commission and public affairs, the upcoming elections in Hungary, Brexit and more.
European Parliament:
Incoming:
Aleksander GABELIC (S&D, SE) joined the Parliament as member, replacing Jens NILSSON who passed away in March.
Composition of the political groups:
Laurenţiu REBEGA (RO) officially joined the ECR group, after sitting as an independent MEP. He was previously a member of the ENF group.
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Composition of the committee and delegations:
Ana MIRANDA (Greens/EFA, ES) and Bodil VALERO (Greens/EFA, SE) joined the delegation to the parliamentary assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (D-MED) and the delegation to the EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee (D-TR).
Max ANDERSSON (Greens/EFA, SE) left the delegation to the EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee (D-TR).
MEP news:
President Antonio TAJANI (EPP, IT) received the Charles V European Award, which he dedicated to European citizens.
European Commission:
Directorates-General:
International cooperation and development (DEVCO):
Directorate A – International cooperation and development policy: Felix FERNANDEZ-SHAW was appointed as director, replacing Gaspar FRONTINI who was acting in the role.
Directorate B – People and Peace: Henriette GEIGER was appointed as the new director, replacing Jean-Louis VILLE, who was acting in the role. Jean-Louis VILLE took over from Fabienne VAN DEN EEDE (acting) as head of unit, gender equality, human rights and democratic governance.
Directorate F – Asia, Central Asia, Middle East/Gulf and Pacific: following the appointment of Henriette GEIGER as director of Directorate B, the position of head of unit, East, South-East Asia and the Pacific became vacant.
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Special advisers:
The following were appointed as special advisers from 1 April to 31 March 2019:
Alexander ITALIANER to President Jean-Claude JUNCKER.
Mario MONTI to Gunter OETTINGER.
Wolfgang BRANDSTETTER to Vĕra JOUROVÁ.
Mariana MAZZUCATO to Carlos MOEDAS.
European Economic and Social Committee (EESC):
Ewa HACZYK-PLUMLEY was appointed as the new head of press unit, as of 3 April.
Bulgarian Presidency's conference on digital and entrepreneurial skills for inclusive, cohesive and innovative societies:
The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU is organising an event on 11 April. The event will take place from 10.00 to 12.30 on 11 April 2018 in the Press Room of the Europa Building of the Council and will be live streamed.
It will be kicked off by the Bulgarian Deputy-Minister for Education and Science Ms Denitsa SACHEVA and the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Mr Tibor NAVRACSICS.
The conference will be divided into two panels focusing on Scaling up digital and innovative education practices and Entrepreneurial skills for growth and personal development. You can find the agenda for the conference here.
The event will set the scene for the Bulgarian Presidency flagship conference on education 'Educate to Create: from Digital Consumers to Digital Creators' on 19-20 April in Sofia.
Public affairs:
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Europe Analytica: Three new hires have strengthened Europe Analytica's digital team. Marc DU MOULIN joins as a copyright expert. Nathan STEWART has taken over responsibility for clients’ communications strategies and Beatrice MANOLE will manage European project management and funding.
European Journalism Centre: Linda VECVAGARE joined as community editor.
News in a nutshell:
Brexit: The Brexit select committee published a new report on the future UK-EU relationship, that includes the key tests by which it will judge the political declaration later in October. According to the report, “the UK must seek to maintain convergence with EU regulations in all relevant areas in order to maximise access to European markets and urges for continued participation in the European Medicines Agency, the European Aviation Safety Agency, and the European Chemicals Agency and in other agencies where there is a benefit”. The report, on which members of the committee were split, set out a number of other key tests, such as immigration, security, border arrangements and access to markets.
EU chief negotiator Michel BARNIER was in Finland on Thursday 5 April, where he visited the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). In a post on social media BARNIER welcomed the agency's Brexit preparedness work, while he also mention that as a consequence of Brexit, the UK will no longer participate in the work of the EU agencies.
Hungary: Prime Minister Victor ORBAN won a third term in office and claimed a landslide victory in the elections in Sunday's parliamentary elections.
