Commission banks on hot new assets

Date: 18/01/01

There are new faces in two of the Commission's top financial posts, with Swede Jörgen Holmquist taking over as deputy general of the budget directorate general and Dutchman Jules Muis in the same role for internal audits.

Muis comes from the World Bank and is tipped as a rising star to watch. Insiders reckon that once member states and the Parliament have agreed key financial reforms he will land the director-general role. It also doesn't hurt that, as a Dutchman, he can help build some bridges with The Hague, which has been under-represented in top Commission posts since Carlo Trojan was eased out of the secretary-general job last year as part of Romano Prodi's reshuffle.

The 53-year-old Holmquist also comes with a solid pedigree. A Commission official since 1997, he has served in the Swedish ministry of trade and spent six years in Washington as a counsellor for financial affairs at his country's embassy.