Brussels, 22/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 21 October, in Strasbourg, the EP's civil liberties committee decided to select the Italian candidate, Giovanni Buttarelli, currently the assistant of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Peter Hustinx, as the latter's successor. Buttarelli obtained 34 votes, as opposed to 31 votes for Yann Padova, from France, 10 votes for Wojciech Wiewiorowski from Poland, 4 votes for Noëlle Lenoir from France and 1 vote for Cinzia Biondi from the United Kingdom. For the post of EDPS assistant, MEPs voted for Wojciech Wiewiorowski who received 53 votes as opposed to the 9 votes for Buttarelli, 3 votes for Lenoir and 2 votes for Biondi. The candidates were given a hearing on Monday evening in Strasbourg and questioned about a variety of subjects such as reform of European data protection rules, the right to forget, the data retention directive and the “safe harbour” agreements. The list of candidates retained by the committee now has to go to the Conference of Presidents and for discussions with the Council. EUROPE will be returning to this subject. (SP)