Italian appointed director-general for enlargement

Stefano Sannino will replace Michael Leigh.

The European Commission has appointed Stefano Sannino as director-general of the enlargement department. Sannino, an Italian who is currently deputy director-general for enlargement, will replace Michael Leigh, a Briton, when he retires in June. Sannino will take up his new position on 1 July. 

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Sannino has a long track record in external relations. He was a deputy director-general in the Commission’s external relations department from May 2009, in charge of relations with Asia and Latin America. He was a director for Latin America in the external relations department before that.

In 2006-08 he was the special representative, or sherpa, and adviser on EU and international affairs for Romano Prodi, Italy’s then prime minister. Before that, in 2002-05, Sannino was a member of Prodi’s private office, advising on external relations and trade when Prodi was European Commission president. In 2005 he was appointed as the Commission’s representative to the political and security committee, the group of senior diplomats from the member states who deal with the EU’s foreign and security policy.

Before joining the Commission, Sannino worked in the Italian ministries of foreign affairs and external trade. He was deputy head of mission at the Italian embassy in Belgrade in 1993-95, and head of the mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2001-02.

Six Italians

The promotion of Sonnino will take the number of Italians who hold the post of Commission director-general to six. The others are: Marco Buti, who is director-general for economic and financial affairs; Stefano Manservisi at home affairs; Paola Testori Coggi at the health and consumers department; Giovanni Kessler, the head of the OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office; and Marco Benedetti, who is in charge of the interpretation service. There are six German directors-generals and five each from France and the UK (after Leigh retires).