Based on a detailed decision by its Ethics Committee, the European Commission authorised Vice-President Jyrki Katainen on Wednesday 30 October to chair the Finnish public foundation SITRA for innovation as of January 2020.
Mr Katainen will be able to take up his future duties provided, in particular, that he does not lobby the Commission, the EIB or the EBRD for the Foundation on matters within his competence as European Commissioner for a period of 2 years after the end of his current activities. Nor will he be able to use internal Commission information acquired during his mandate to guide SITRA investment decisions.
Five new directors Mr Katainen, who will remain in office until the end of the Juncker Commission’s mandate, perhaps at the end of November, will nevertheless be able to participate in public activities involving the Commission, the EIB and/or the EBRD.
See the Commission's decision: http://bit.ly/2MVROR0
On Wednesday, the Commission also appointed five new directors: – Greek Andreas Papaconstantinou and Finnish Ilkka Salmi in the service of Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (DG ECHO); – German Michael Hager at the Energy Service (DG ENER); – German Nils Behrndt at the service of Justice and Consumer Protection (DG JUST); – Swede Mona Björklund on the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, which monitors the quality of the Commission's evaluation and impact assessment work.
Finally, the following were appointed as principal advisers: Cristina Lobillo Borrero of Spain in the Agriculture Department (DG AGRI), Paulina Dejmek-Hack of the Czech Republic and Sweden in the Financial Services Department (DG FISMA), Bernard Naudts of Belgium in the Regulatory Scrutiny Board and Léon Delvaux of Luxembourg in the Trade Department (DG TRADE). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)