A British chartered accountant has been appointed new Director-General for fisheries under the EU Commission.
As part of the Commission’s “mobility policy”, Fokion Fotiadis, a Greek national as his Commissioner Maria Damanaki, is replaced by Lowri Evans at the top of the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), the Commission announced. According to the policy, the Commissioner and his/her top official should not be of the same nationality.
Ms. Evans is currently a Deputy Director-General for state aid in DG Competition.
She has been a Deputy DG in that directorate since December 2005, which would rather soon have made her subject to another of the rules in the new mobility policy: that no senior Commission official should remain in the same function more than five years.
The mobility policy also includes an ambition to achieve better gender balance, moving more women into top positions.
Originally a chartered accountant who grew up in a Welsh-speaking family and first learned English in school, Ms. Evans has been employed in various posts under the Commission since 1983.