New Director Generals at DG TREN and DG RTD
A major reshuffle of senior officials at the
Commission took place last month as part of a standard procedure
for periodically rotating senior posts within the European institutions.
Here are the changes that affect DG TREN and DG RTD:
Matthias Ruete is the new Director General of
DG TREN
Matthias Ruete
Director General
|
Matthias Ruete is the new
Director General for Energy and Transport. He is a lawyer
by training and a very experienced European official, with
20 years service. He was previously Director of Directorate
A, “Coordination of Competitiveness,”
DG Enterprise. He speaks French and has an excellent reputation
for efficiency and output. He was previously Commissioner
Günter Verheugen's right-hand man at DG Enlargement
with responsibility for coordination |
and the drafting of strategic documents. Like
Mr. Verheugen, he has German Social Democrat (SPD) political leanings.
Matthias Ruete was very active on the Turkish dossier in 2004.
According to one former colleague, "He is a man
of compromise.”
Earlier in his career, he was attached to the
old DG III, Industry, where he served as Deputy Head of Cabinet
in Edith Cresson’s Cabinet (François Lamoureux was
the Head of Cabinet). He also worked in the old DG VII, Transport,
where he was in charge of the Trans-European Networks TENs).
With regards to experience of nuclear energy
matters, Matthias Ruete worked in the field of radiation protection,
in Luxembourg, in the late 80’s, in particular on the formulation
of post-Chernobyl legislation (the restriction of contaminated
foodstuffs from Central and Eastern Europe).
Here is a copy of his CV.
Nationality: |
German |
| Education: |
1984: Dr. Juris, University of Giessen, Law faculty
1978-1979: LLM (Lon), University of London
1975-1978: Assessor Juris (Second State Exam in Law), Government
of Hessen
1968-1975: Law degree and bar studies, university of Marburg,
Köln, Berlin, Giessen
|
| Professional experience in the European
Institutions: |
2006-date: Director General DG « Energy
and Transports »
2005: Director DG « Enterprise and Industry
», « Coordination for Competitiveness »
July 2003-December 2004: Director DG « Enlargement
», « Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and coordination
»
May 2000-July 2003: Director DG « Enlargement
», « Coordination of negotiations, pre-accession
and financial instruments »
1998-2000: Director DG « Energy and Transport
», « International relations, trans-European
transport and infrastructure networks »
1995-1998: member, afterwards deputy head of cabinet
– Cabinet of the Commissioner for Research, Innovation
and Education.
1993-1995: Head of Unit DG «Industry »
«Industrial co-operation »
1987-1993: Administrator, afterwards assistant
to Director general DG « Internal Market and industrial
Affairs »
1986-1987: Administrator DG « Social Affairs
»
|
| Professional experience before joining
the European Institutions: |
1982-1985: Visiting Lecturer in Law, University
of Warwick, Coventry, UK
1979-1982: Scientific Collaborator/Assistant/lecturer
at the two Institutes for Public Law (Constitutional; European;
International Public Law) |
Other changes within DG TREN:
Prior to the reshuffle, DG TREN had two Deputy
Director Generals. One was Hungarian Zoltan Kazatsay, who was
given responsibility, one year ago, for coordinating the work
of the three directorates responsible for transport activities:
TREN.E “Inland Transport”, TREN.F “Air
Transport” and TREN.G “Maritime and River
Transport; Intermodality”. The other Deputy Director
General is Fernando de Esteban, who is responsible for the coordination
of nuclear activities in Luxembourg. He is in charge of two Directorates:
TREN.H “Nuclear Energy” and TREN.I “Nuclear
Safeguards.” Mr. de Esteban will retire next August.
In addition, President Barroso has decided to
create a third post of Deputy Director General at DG.TREN. The
new Deputy Director General will be responsible for energy activities
covering Directorates TREN.C Conventional Sources of Energy
and TREN.D New & Renewable Sources of Energy, Demand Management
& Sustainable Development, in Brussels. This new post
has been entrusted to Fabrizio Barbaso, who was acting Director
General for Enlargement since 2003. Fabrizio Barbaso previously
worked for several Italian Commissioners, including Carlo Ripa
di Meana (Environment) and for many Directorate Generals (Industry,
External Relations and Agriculture. He will be the key figure
in the field of non-nuclear energy policy within DG.TREN.
The other significant changes that have been made to the DG’s
organization chart are as follows:
-
Three new Assistants to the Director General
have been nominated. They are Christine Berg, Filip Cornelis
and Eddy Liégeois (Eddy Liegois was a member of the
previous team)
-
At Directorate D New and Renewable Sources
of Energy, Demand Management and Sustainable Development,
Gonzalo Molina Igartua has been replaced as Advisor to the
Director by the Austrian Karl Kellner, who was previously
Head of Unit D.2 Management of RTD Energy Programmes
(in 2000 he was Head of Unit for nuclear energy in 2000).
Gonzalo Molina Igartua replaces karl Kellner as Head of Unit,
D.2.
-
At Directorate F Air Transport, Unit F.4
Air Transport Agreements now also covers policy relating
to Modernisation of Air Traffic Control.
-
At Directorate G Maritime and River Transport; Intermodality,
Unit G.2 Inland Navigation and Ports is no longer
in charge of the Short Sea Shipping file.
It is worth noting that no changes have yet been
announced with regard to Direcorates TREN.H Nuclear Energy, TREN.I
Nuclear Safeguards and TREN.J Security - Protection of Persons,
of the Assets and the Facilities.
For full details of the new DG TREN Organisation
Chart visit the DG’ website on:
download
José Manuel Silva Rodriguez is the new
Director General of DG RTD
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José Manuel Silva Rodriguez
Director General
|
The new Director General for Research (DG RTD) is the Spaniard
José Manuel Silva Rodriguez, who was previously Director
General for Agriculture. His successor in his former post
is Frenchman Jean-Luc Demarty, who was previously Deputy
Director General at DG Agriculture with responsibility for
agricultural legislation, resources management and auditing
of farming expenditure. Mr. Silva Rodriguez is an agricultural
engineer. Like Matthias Ruete, he too has 20 years of experience
at the European Commission. |
Here is his CV.
José Manuel SILVA RODRIGUEZ
Born in Chantada (Spain) 25/10/1949
Married – 2 children
Studies :
-
Agricultural engineer (ETSI AGRONOMOS – Madrid)
- 1973
-
Degree in External trade (CEU-Madrid) - 1977
-
Diploma in European Communities (CEPADE-Madrid) -
1983
|
Previous positions
From 1971 until he joined SOIVRE (Servicio
Oficial de Inspección, Vigilancia y Regulación
de las Exportaciones – the Spanish Customs Inspection
Service), as an inspector in the Ministry of Economy and
Trade, he was a professor at the School of Agricultural
Engineers in Madrid and worked in the private sector in
export companies as well as on animal food projects.
Ministry of Economy and Trade (Madrid)
Employed in the Directorate general of
Internal Trade and in the Directorate General for Trade
Policy.
1979-1982
Secreteria de estado (Madrid)
Counsellor in agricultural affairs and
member of the delegation for the Spanish accession negotiations.
1983-1986
European Commission
Since 1986, he has worked in the following
posts :
-
Member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Manuel Marin
- 1986
-
Head of unit for processed fruit and vegetables division
- 1987-1990
-
Head of unit, Tobacco division - 1990
-
Head of unit, wine, spirits and derived products division
- 1991-1993
-
Chief advisor of the Directorate General
for Agriculture and Director of the Common Market Organisation
for Vegetable Products - 1993-1997
-
Deputy Director General of Agriculture
responsible for rural development - 1997
-
Director General for Agriculture and
Rural Development - 1999-2005
-
Director General for Research - Jan.
2006
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At Directorate RTD.J “Energy,”
which is headed by the Spaniard Pablo Fernandez Ruiz, the main
organizational change announced is in the area of thermo-nuclear
fusion. In addition to Unit 5 “Joint Development of
Fusion” and Unit 6 “Fusion Association Agreements,”
a new unit (Unit 8) “Implementation of the European
Legal Entity for ITER,” has been created. It is headed
by the Greek official Stavros Chatzipanagiotou.
For full details of the new DG RTD Organisation
Chart:
download
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