INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR
1.
In 2019, ERA renewed its Board of Trustees (“Kuratorium”) for the term 2020-2023. What are the key features of the new Board, and what do you consider the main achievements of its predecessor?
E
RA’s so-called Board of Trustees, which is essentially an advisory board providing guidance on the training needs of our target groups (the legal professions), top level expertise on a variety of EU law areas and key contacts to the main actors in European law and training is appointed for a term of four years. Normally appointment to the Board is renewable once; there is however also a category of life-time appointees whom we refer to as “honorary trustees” and who were instrumental in achieving important objectives in certain phases of ERA’s development. The latter category includes a former judge of the European Court of Justice (Sir David Edward), former senior officials of the EU’s three political institutions (Francesco de Angelis, Charles Elsen, Gregorio Garzón Clariana) and two former presidents of the CCBE (Hans-Jürgen Hellwig and Heinz Weil). Last year, former EP Vice President Diana Wallis and the long-serving chairwoman of the Board Pauliine Koskelo, now a judge of the European Court of Human Rights, were also appointed honorary trustees for life.
Advisers on strategy and representatives of EU institutions
Besides the honorary members, we identify three categories of trustees: Advisers on strategy and representatives of EU institutions (10), Representatives of target groups and partner institutions (17) and Expert advisers (33). Of these 60 regular members, 36 have been appointed for the first time to the new Board, which was the largest renewal of the Board ever. Some of the new members, in particular those representing EU or partner institutions, are succeeding their colleagues which were also their predecessors in their institutional function. Some of these trustees however represent institutions which so far were never represented on the Board, such as three EU agencies supervising the market for financial services (the ECB, EBA and ESMA) or the European Public Prosecutor in person, Laura Codruța Kövesi. Among the expert advisers, a high number of practicing lawyers with an impressive variety of expertise have been appointed for the first time, and also business is very well represented through a record number of company lawyers. We are very much looking forward to working with the new Board and its members, even if our plans to launch first Board activities in early 2020 have unfortunately been thwarted by the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Expert advisers
10
( 10 )
Representatives of target groups and partner institutions
( 17 )
( 33 )
