Fracchia appointed as Mediator

European Commission appoints senior managers in its Legal Service, Secretariat-General and Health department

The European Commission today appointed Ms Laura Pignataro Nolin to the position of Principal Legal Adviser “Team - European Civil Service Law” in the Legal Service of the Commission, as of 16 June 2016; Mr Giovanni Fracchia as the Commission's Mediator in the Secretariat-General, starting date to be determined later; and Ms Paola Colombo to the position of Director for Health and Food Audits and Analysis in the Health and Food Safety department (DG SANTE), as of 1 August 2016. Ms Pignataro Nolin, Italian, joined the Commission from academia in 1992. She has worked in the Commission's Legal Service since 1995, representing the Commission in hundreds of court cases and working on countless pieces of EU legislation. She is currently Legal Adviser dealing with internal market and environmental issues. Mr Fracchia, Italian, joined the Commission 1990. Medical doctor by education, he worked on a variety of topics in the area of medical research and health policies. Mr Fracchia has extensive management experience: he first became Head of Unit in 2003 and was briefly an Acting Director in 2008. He is currently the head of the European Commission's medical service. Ms Colombo, Italian and a trained veterinarian, joined in the Commission in 1995. Until 2002, she worked on policies tackling different animal diseases and drafting relevant legislation. In the mid-2000s, she gained political experience as a member of former Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding's private office. Since 2007, she headed the Management and Resource Unit of the European Political Strategy Centre of the European Commission, the successor of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers. (For more information: Alexander Winterstein - Tel.: +32 229 93265; Andreana Stankova – Tel.: +32 229 57857)

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