Europese Commissie benoemt Henrik Hololei tot Directeur-generaal uitbreidingsbeleid (en)
IP/09/942
Brussels, 17 June 2009
Henrik Hololei appointed Deputy Director-General for Enlargement
Today the European Commission appointed Henrik Hololei as Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Enlargement (DG ELARG).
In his new role, Mr Hololei will support the Director-General in the overall management of the Enlargement DG and its 400 staff members, replacing the Director-General as needed and representing him in high-level negotiations and contacts. The Enlargement DG is responsible for taking forward work on the enlargement of the European Union, including accession negotiations with Croatia and Turkey, and relations with the countries of the Western Balkans. The DG also manages EU financial assistance to these countries, through pre-accession aid.
Henrik Hololei, a 39-year-old Estonian, is currently head of cabinet for vice-president Siim Kallas i, Commissioner for administrative affairs, audit and anti-fraud.
Prior to joining the Commission in 2004, Mr Hololei was throughout the pre-accession period in charge of the Estonian preparations for EU membership. He had an extensive career at the State Chancellery of the Republic of Estonia, successively as counsellor to the minister for European affairs (1995–96), counsellor, then head of the office of European integration (1996–2001 and 2002–03), and chief government counsellor and director for EU affairs (2003–04). During this period he was chairman of the council of senior civil servants coordinating Estonian accession to the EU and a member of the Estonian delegation for EU accession negotiations. Mr Hololei has also served in the Estonian government as Minister of Economy (2001–02) and was the government's deputy representative to the Convention on the Future of Europe (2002–03).
Henrik Hololei is an economist by training and has also studied political science. The precise date at which he takes up his new duties will be fixed at a later stage.