EU: Johannes Laitenberger named Director for Competition Enforcement

It was announced on Thursday that Johannes Laitenberger, a German lawyer and nearly 20-year veteran at the EC, will become director general of competition, reporting to Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

Laitenberger previously headed up former EUCommission President Jose Barossa’s private offices.

Laitenberger will now be working closely with commissioner Vestager, who admitted on Thursday that Laitenberger was not her first choice. Infect he was not even on her radar according to Politico.

According to Politico the commissioner made the extraordinary admission that she had lobbied to keep Italianer at DG Competition, but was rebuffed, and consequently failed to even submit a list of preferred candidates to Juncker.

The Commission has also decided to reshuffle its senior management team in order to promote more women into leadership positions. As part of the reshuffle, 11 director-generals were moved or changed department. Another three roles will be decided in the near future.

The commission admits that the current team “does not yet include a sufficient number of women”.

Full content: Politico

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