Brussels, 03/08/2011 (Agence Europe) - Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday 3 August announced the names of the new heads of EU delegations to 19 third countries and three countries of the EU, including several key posts such as Vienna, Austria (Hungary's Margit Zanathyne-Martin), Paris in France (Italy's Maria Patolisano), Rome, Italy (Laurence Argimon-Pistre of France), Bern in Switzerland (Richard Jones of the UK), New York (Thomas Mayr-Harting of Austria), Ankara in Turkey (Jean-Maurice Ripert of France), Kinshasa in DRC (Jean-Michel Dumond of France), Addis-Abeba in Ethiopia (the Briton Gary Quince), Khartoum in Sudan (the Czezch Tomas Ulincy), Hanoi, Vietnam (Denmark's Franz Jessen), Bogota, Colombia (Maria Van Gool of The Netherlands), New Dehli in India (Portugal's Joao Cravinho). Also appointed were three deputy heads of delegations (in Switzerland, to Geneva on WTO dossiers), Tokyo and New York.
Lady Ashton states that eight women have been appointed as heads of delegation, bringing their total number to 31, or 22% of positions of responsibility in the delegations of the EU (compared to just 10 women which the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force in 1999). 45 of the 149 important positions in the delegations are occupied by diplomats from the Foreign Affairs Ministries of the countries of the EU, or 30% (not far off the total objective of one third).
These appointments come as part of the 2011 rotation of the heads of delegations. They go to 16 candidates from the diplomatic services of the Member States of the EU, 7 from the European External Action Service (EEAS) and two from the European Commission. Four heads of delegation were recruited from the new Member States of the EU. The selection procedures continues for a number of major positions (heads of delegations) in Kosovo, Syria, Uzbekistan, Mali, Chile and Jerusalem. (L.C./transl.fl)