Luxemburg, 08/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - The new Italian judges and Advocate General at the European Court of Justice and Court of First Instance took up their posts on 3 May. The resignation of judge Antonio La Pergola led to the triple appointment by the Italian government, a few months before the renewal of the term of office of several other judges on 6 October.
The new Italian judge at the Court is Antonio Tizzano, hitherto Advocate General at the Court. He is replaced as Advocate General by Paolo Mengozzi, who until now was the Italian judge at the European Court of First Instance. To replace Paolo Mengozzi at the Court of First Instance, the Italian government has selected Enzo Moavero Milanesi, recently appointed Director General of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers of the European Commission President.
Enzo Moavero Milanesi was born in 1954. A Doctor of Law from La Sapienza University in Rome, he became a European official in 1989. He was appointed Director in Directorate General Competition, then Deputy Secretary General of the European Commission (2002-2005) before his appointment as Director General of the Commission President's Bureau of European Policy Advisers in 2006.
Antonio Tizzano, born in 1940, has been Advocate General at the Court since 2000. He has been a lawyer, a member of the Italian delegation at Intergovernmental Conferences on the Single European Act and the European Union Treaty, then a member of the group of independent experts appointed to examine European Commission finances in 1999. He has also taught European Law and was Director of the Institute of International and European Law at the University of Rome.
Paolo Mengozzi, born in 1938, has taught International Law and held the Jean Monnet Chair of European Community Law at the University of Bologna, he has been Doctor honoris causa at the Carlos III University, Madrid, and visiting lecturer in many universities. He was Under-Secretary of State for Industry and Trade when Italy held the rotating Council Presidency, and a member of the European Community's Reflection Group on the WTO. He has been a judge at the European Court of First Instance since 1998.
Antonio Tizzano and Paolo Mengozzi have been appointed until 6 October 2012. Enzo Maovero Milanesi's term of office expires on 31 August 2007.
Legally, it was the 25 representatives of Member States' governments who appointed them. In fact, these appointments were made by the Italian government. Since the Court was set up, no Member State has ever challenged a nomination from another Member State.
Antonio La Pergola officially returns to his post at the head of the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (IPZS, at one and the same time national printing office and Mint). His departure brings to an end a period of uneasiness at the Court, due to his repeated absences from Luxemburg. Judge La Pergola, born in 1931, has taught Law and was a member of the Higher Council of the Judiciary and a member of the Constitutional Court. He has been the Italian Minister for Community Policies, an MEP then judge at the Court, Advocate General and then once again became a judge at the Court in 2000.
With the notable exception of Germany, the other governments, whose judges end their terms of office on 6 October, have all appointed replacements or extended the terms of office of those in place.