The European Commission has decided to appoint Alexander Italianer as new Secretary-General following Catherine Day‘s decision to retire from active service as of 1 September 2015.
The Commission has also decided to reshuffle its senior management team and a significant number of current senior managers will be taking on new responsibilities. Following the re-organisation of the Commission in November 2014, this pronouncement is a further step in gearing the Commission towards effective delivery. It concludes an inclusive process set in motion by the President in March 2015.
Presenting its decision, President Jean-Claude Juncker said: “I want to wholeheartedly thank Catherine Day for her commitment and skilful steer of our administration for so many years. She played a crucial role in helping this new Commission to start at full speed. I am sure our new Secretary-General, Alexander Italianer, will build on her tremendous success. We have a strong team in place to deliver on Europe’s big priorities. At the same time, there are still too few women among our senior managers. It remains my firm intention to change that during my mandate”.
Kristalina Georgieva, Vice-President in charge of Human Resources and Budget, said: “This is a team of talented and experienced professionals, who will work closely with the political leaders to deliver on the priorities of the Juncker Commission – the right people in the right place, at the right time. And I am strongly committed to bring the share of female managers to 40% by the end of this mandate.”
This decision involves two types of moves among the current senior management team of 33
Directors-General, 36 Deputy Directors-General and 4 Hors Classe Advisers.
