Meeting booked to appoint EU anti-fraud boss
European Commission arranges meeting to agree director of anti-fraud unit OLAF
The European Commission is arranging a tripartite meeting with the European
Parliament and the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers to agree a director
to lead the EU’s anti-fraud unit OLAF over the next five years.
A senior Brussels official said the meeting could be held this month, after
the EU Council of Ministers chose as its top choice Alain Gillette, a Frenchman,
of the UN Board of Auditors.
This decision makes it even less likely that the current German incumbent
Franz-Hermann Brüner will be reappointed, as the European Parliament had
previously nominated former Interpol president Björn Eriksson, of Sweden.
Under the complex system of appointing an OLAF director, the Commission,
parliament and council must agree on a director, although the precise procedure
is unclear because of some contradictions in the different translations of
OLAF’s founding EU regulation.
‘The decision will be reasonably swift now the other two institutions have
made up their mind,’ said the Commission official.