European Parliament:
Incoming:
Sławomir KŁOSOWSKI (ECR, PL) and Czesław HOC (ECR, PL) officially joined the Parliament on 27 November to replace Marek Józef GRÓBARCZYK and Dawid Bohdan JACKIEWICZ who were appointed Ministers in the newly formed Polish government.
Substitutes of the Committees, Subcommittees and the Delegations:
Nicola CAPUTO (S&D, IT) joined the Committee on Fisheries (PECH).
Gianni PITTELLA (S&D, IT) left the Committee on Fisheries (PECH) and joined the Committee on Budgets (BUDG).
Special Committees:
The Conference of Presidents of political group leaders decided on Wednesday to establish a new special committee to succeed the special committee on tax rulings (TAXE), the final report of which was adopted last week. The mandate of the new committee will last six months, starting from 2 December. It will be comprised of 45 members and will keep the same structure as its predecessor.
National parties:
Eleni THEOCHAROUS (EPP, CY) left the Democratic Rally (DISY) due to disagreement with the party’s handling of the Cyprus problem and became independent. Ms THEOCHAROUS announced the launch of a new political movement named “Solidarity”.
European Commission:
Directorates General:
Human Resources and Security (HR):
Directorate DS – Security: Ilkka Tapani SALMI appointed Director, replacing Marc BECQUET.
Justice and Consumers (JUST):
Directorate A – Civil Justice: Karen VANDEKERCKHOVE is the new acting Head of Civil justice policy Unit, replacing Michael SHOTTER.
Mobility and Transport (MOVE):
Directorate E - Aviation and International Transport Affairs: Christophe DUSSART is the new acting Head of Internal Market and Airports Unit, replacing Emmanuelle MAIRE.
Representation in Member States:
Hungary: Gábor ZUPKÓ took up his position as Head of Representation on 1 December 2015, replacing Tamás SZŰCS.
What’s new?
New Coordinators: The European Commission appointed Katharina VON SCHNURBEIN, former Employment and Social Affairs Spokesperson, and David FRIGGIERI to the newly established positions of Coordinators on combating antisemitism and combating anti-Muslim hatred respectively. The appointments are effective as of 1 December 2015. The Coordinators will help strengthening policy responses towards hate crime, hate speech, intolerance and discrimination. Their main tasks will be to bring to the attention of the First Vice-President Frans TIMMERMANS and Commissioner Věra JOUROVÁ specific concerns of the respective communities and to act as points of contact for them.
Banking Union: The Inter-governmental agreement for the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) was ratified by sufficient number of member states and the Single Resolution Board will become fully operational on 1 January 2016.
European Investment Bank (EIB):
Wilhelm MOLTERER has been appointed Managing Director and Iliyana TSANOVA has been appointed Deputy Managing Director of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
European Agencies:
Energy Community: Branislav PRELEVIĆ re-appointed President of the Energy Community Regulatory Board.
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA): Laura D’ARRIGO elected Chair for a three-year mandate, replacing João GOULÃO effective 1 January. Franz Pietsch was also elected to the position of Vice-Chair, replacing Claude GILLARD.
Committee of the Regions (CoR):
Members:
Vladimir KISSIOV (EPP, BG), Detelina NIKOLOVA (EPP, BG), Krassimir KOSTOV (PES, BG), Krasimir MIREV (PES, BG), Anastasiya MLADENOVA (PES, BG) and Madzhid MANDADZHA (ALDE, BG) left their positions.
Alternates:
Niels Erik SØNDERGAARD (ECR, DK) and Henk STAGHOUWER (ECR, NL) joined as alternates.
Stanislav BLAGOV (EPP, BG), Dimitranka KAMENOVA (EPP, BG), Emil NAIDENOV (PES, BG), Elisabeth VITOUCH (PES, AT) and Nikolay IVANOV (PES, BG) left their positions.
Public affairs:
Assembly of European Regions (AER): Hande ÖZSAN BOZATLI re-elected President.
Eli Lilly: Thom THORP, currently Senior Director, Corporate Affairs and Market Access for UK and the Northern Europe Cluster at Eli Lilly and Company, assumed additional roles as Head of Government Affairs and Communications for Europe and Canada, and Head of Lilly’s Brussels office as of 1 December.
European Federation of Agencies and Regions for Energy and the Environment (FEDARENE): Michael GEISSLER re-elected as Secretary-General at the 2015 General Assembly in Paris.
Eurosif – European Sustainable Investment Forum: Flavia MICILOTTA appointed as the new Executive Director. Will OULTON appointed interim President, replacing Giuseppe VAN DER HELM who stepped down.
Hume Brophy: bolstered its transport team with two new hires. David GERING, previously Director of Communications at Brussels South Airport, joined as an Account Director and Edward STRANGE ex-Consultant at Luther Pendragon as a Senior Account Manager.
News in a nutshell:
European Economic and Social Committee (EESC): the plenary session will take place from 8 to 9 December.
Denmark: Danes rejected the adoption of EU rules on cross-border policing in the referendum that was held on Thursday 2 December. The No vote means that apart from rejection to further EU integration, Denmark will be exempt from parts of the EU's justice and home affairs system and it also risks to lose access to Europol.
Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin NETANYAHU ordered the suspension of contacts with the EU bodies that are involved in the peace efforts with the Palestinians until a reassessment is completed. The suspension was triggered by the requirement for labelling of exports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Spain: The Constitutional Court of Spain annulled the resolution by the Catalan regional assembly which set out a secession plan. However, the acting Head of the Catalonia’s government, Arthur MAS said that Catalonia will pursue the split despite the Court’s decision.
Want to know more? Click here for information on our Dods People EU service. You can also stay ahead of the game by subscribing to our weekly newsletter. Got any news you’d like included in our next newsletter? Contact Ifigenia Balkoura on dpeu.proofs@dods.eu