COLLEGE MEETING: European Commission appoints 3 Principal Advisers to its Legal Service and its Directorates-General for Communications and for Economic and Financial Affairs

The European Commission has decided to appoint a Principal Legal Adviser in its Legal Service as well as two Principal Advisers to its Directorates-General for Communication and for Economic and Financial Affairs. Mr Bernhard Schima, an Austrian national, has been appointed to the position of a Principal Legal Adviser ‘European Civil Service Law’ in the Legal Service. Mr Schima joined the European institutions in 1995 and first worked, until 2003, in the Cabinet of Judge Peter Jann in the Court of Justice of the European Union. In 2003, he joined the Commission’s Legal Service. He has been a Legal Adviser in the Legal Service since 2013. Mr Schima is currently an Assistant to the Director-General in the Legal Service. Mr Telmo Baltazar, a Portuguese national, has been appointed to the position of a Principal Adviser for ‘Corporate and Political Communication’ in the Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM). Mr Baltazar has been a Commission official since 1995 serving on a variety of positions, including as an Assistant to the Director-General of Justice and Home Affairs as well as a Counsellor for Justice and Home Affairs at the EU Delegation in Washington DC and as a Head of Unit for Institutional Relations and Communication in the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). Mr Baltazar is currently the Senior Political Adviser in the Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker where he advised, amongst others, on Energy Union and Climate Action matters as well as relations with the European Parliament. The Commission has also decided to appoint Mr Markus Schulte, a German national, to the position of a Principal Adviser for the ‘Multiannual Financial Framework, InvestEU and the European Green Deal’ in DG ECFIN. Mr Schulte joined the Commission from the International Monetary Fund in October 2005 to first work in the area of enterprise and industrial policy and then in the area of economic and financial policy. In July 2013, he joined the Cabinet of Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger, where he is currently in charge of the negotiations on the EU’s next long-term budget. Mr Luc Tholoniat, a French national, is becoming a Principal Adviser for the ‘Growth Agenda and the European Semester’ in DG ECFIN. Mr Tholoniat joined the European Commission in 2000 and has since then worked in a variety of positions in the area of economic and employment policies. He was Assistant to the Secretary-General of the European Commission, Ms Catherine Day, and is Economic Adviser to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. The date of effect of all these appointments will be determined later.