27/08/2020 (Agence Europe) – Belgium announced in a press release on Thursday 27 August that it supports the candidacy of Belgian Eric Morel de Westgaver to succeed Jan Wörner, the current Director-General of the European Space Agency (ESA), whose term of office will end in mid-2021. Mr Morel de Westgaver has been Director of Industry, Procurement and Legal Services at the agency since 2013. ESA started the recruitment procedure after Mr Wörner announced that he did not wish to extend his term (see EUROPE 12417/12). Applications are open until 31 August. To date, only Pedro Duque, an astronaut and current Spanish minister, has officially declared his candidacy. The names of Italians Roberto Battiston and Simonetta Di Pippo, Frenchman Jean-Yves Le Gall, Luxembourger Étienne Schneider and Austrian Josef Aschbacher have also been mentioned. (PH)