Brussels, 29/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - Effective Friday, 1 March, the Court of Auditors will have four new Members: Juan Manuel Fabra Vallés (Spain), Vitor Manuel da Silva Caldeira (Portugal), Robert Reynders (Belgium) and Maire Geoghegan-Quinn (Ireland). They are replacing, respectively, Antoni Castells, Armindo de Jésus de Sousa Ribeiro, Patrick Evrard and Barry Desmond. Further, Jorgen Mohr (Denmark), Giorgio Clemente (Italy), Aunus Salmi (Finland) and Jan Karlsson (Sweden) will be beginning their renewed mandates on 1 March.
The Court of Auditors is made up of 15 Members, with six-year renewable mandates. They are appointed by the Council of Ministers after consultation of the European Parliament. The current President of the Court of Auditors, Jan Karlsson, will continue to occupy this post until January 2002 (he was appointed to the three-year post in January 1999). The new Members will be sworn in at a formal sitting on 8 March. The mandates of the seven other Members of the Court of Auditors will expire on 31 December 2001.