Brussels, 09/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - In line with its strategy of mobility for high-level civil servants, which it adopted at the end of January 2002, the Commissioned decided, on 9 November, to transfer 17 Directors General and deputy Directors General to new posts. These changes will take effect as of 1 January, with a few exceptions. 16 other posts of this level will be filled after the positions have been advertised, and five of them will be reserved for external candidates from the new Member States. These decisions are in line with the Commission's objectives that no high-ranking civil servant will stay in the same job for more than five years (seven years under exceptional circumstances). This is the second "mobility package" adopted at this level, after that of late April 2002 (EUROPE 8199).
Catherine Day of Ireland, who is currently Director General of DG environment, has been appointed Secretary General of the Commission, and becomes the first woman to occupy this post. Although made on the basis of her own merits, Ms Day's appointment "is emblematic of our commitment to sexual equality", said President Barroso. Ms Day (former deputy head of the Cabinet of Sir Leon Brittan when he was Commissioner for Trade), who was the favourite for the top job in the Directorate General Trade until the very last minute, will replace her countryman David O'Sullivan on 21 November, when he will go on to inherit the post of Director General for DG Trade, which is currently occupied by Peter Carl of Denmark, who is to head up DG Environment.
The biggest victim of this reshuffle is François Lamoureux, of France, Director General for Energy and Transport, who is forced into early retirement as he will become an "adviser hors classe" to the Commission. Although Mr Lamoureux's appointment to the head of DG Research met with the agreement of the vice-president of the Commission in charge of Administration, Siim Kallas, and with that of Commissioner for Research Janez Potocnik, it was apparently turned down by Mr Barroso, according to concordant Community sources and quoted by AFP. The post of Director General for Energy and Transport will be filled internally, once the job has been advertised.
In this game of "musical chairs", the current Director General for Agriculture, José Silva Rodríguez, becomes the new Director General for Research, replacing the Greek European civil servant Achilleas Mitsos (who is to become an "adviser hors classe"). DG Agriculture will be headed up by a Frenchman, Jean-Luc Demarty, who is currently deputy Director General in the same DG. Odile Quintin of France, currently Director General for Employment and Social Affairs, goes to the top job in DG Education and Culture, and will be replaced by the German Nikolaus Van der Pas in DG Employment.
The other appointments are as follows: Heinz Karl Zourek of Austria (Deputy Director General for DG Enterprise) becomes Director General within the same DG Entreprise (with immediate effect); - Roland Schenkel, deputy Director General, becomes Director General of the Joint Research Centre; - Michael Leigh of the United Kingdom, currently deputy Director General for External Relations with responsibility for the neighbourhood policy, becomes Director General for Enlargement in early 2006; - Francisco Garcia Moran becomes Director General for DG Information Society (of which he was deputy Director General); -the Italian Enzo Moavero Milanesi, deputy Secretary General, becomes Director General of the new "BEPA" function; - Fabrizio Barbaso, Director General for Enlargement, becomes deputy Director General for Energy; - Bernhard Zepter (head of the Commission's delegation to Tokyo) becomes "adviser hors classe" for DG External Relations.
Furthermore, the spokesperson to the Commission, Françoise Le Bail of France, will be appointed to the post of deputy Director General to DG Enterprise. She will be replaced on 21 November by the German Johannes Laitenberger (41 years of age, a lawyer by training), who is a member of Mr Barosso's cabinet.
At a press conference, the Commissioner in charge of Administrative Affairs, Siim Kallas, reiterated the principles guiding the Commission's choices in terms of recruitment: individual merit, mobility after five years and a balance between the sexes. Mr Kallas said that he hoped that very soon six, then seven, women would hold important posts within the Commission. With Ms Day leaving the helm of DG Environment, there is now only one woman holding a post of Director General (Ms Quintin). With the appointment of Ms Le Bail, four women become deputy Directors General. Mr Kallas went on to note that a third of candidates from the new Member States applying for posts with the Commission are women. He also pointed out that he would have to wait for the results of the internal competitions for the high-level posts (three Directors General and 8 deputy Directors General) to see how the geographical balance had worked out. Mr Kallas said that no post had been reserved for any particular country, in answer to a question about the appointment of a Frenchman to the top job in Agriculture. And, furthermore, "none of the Member States of the EU have called for such an approach to be employed", he added.