28/02/2019 (Agence Europe) – As announced by EUROPE (see EUROPE 12200), on Thursday 28 February the EU Council appointed the Irish Eamon Gilmore as EU Special Representative for Human Rights. As of Friday 1 March, he will replace Stavros Lambrinidis (Greece), who was the first EU Special Representative in this field since 2012. "The tasks of the Special Representative for Human Rights are to strengthen the effectiveness and visibility of the EU's human rights policy. It has a broad and flexible mandate, which gives it the opportunity to adapt to the changing geopolitical context", the Council said in its statement. Since October 2015, Mr Gilmore has been Special Envoy of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the peace process in Colombia. (CG)