On Tuesday 9 August, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced the appointment of French national Jean-Christophe Belliard as deputy secretary general for political affairs and policy director at the European External Action Service (EEAS). Belliard is currently the director for Africa and the Indian Ocean at the French foreign ministry, and worked as Javier Solana’s personal representative for Africa when Solana was EU high representative for foreign affairs from 1999 to 2009. The 57-year-old diplomat will take up his new post on 1 September 2016, replacing Helga Schmid, who was appointed EEAS secretary general on 15 June (see EUROPE 11575).
Kosovo. On Thursday 4 August, the Council appointed Bulgarian national Natalya Apostolova as EU special representative for Kosovo. On 20 July, she was appointed head of the EU office in Kosovo, replacing Slovenian national Samuel Zbogar, who has been appointed head of the EU delegation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (see EUROPE 11599). Apostolova will take up her new position on 1 September. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)