Solana set to appoint Africa envoy

A cabinet member of Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, is expected to be appointed next week as the Union’s new Africa envoy.

Koen Vervaeke, a Belgian national, is Solana’s director for Africa and one of two candidates recently interviewed by Development Commissioner Louis Michel, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Solana himself. The other candidate is James Moran, a British national and a director in the Commission’s external relations department.

The Commission will make a decision on the successful candidate on Wednesday (5 December) and the Council of Ministers will take a similar decision. Officials said that Vervaeke was the preferred choice.

The UK said that it was "disappointed" that its candidate Valerie Amos was out of the running. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, announcing his cabinet when he took office in June, dropped Amos from the ministerial line-up but said that she would be the UK’s candidate for EU special representative to the African Union. She was previously leader of the House of Lords and Secretary of State for International Development.

"The role had lent itself to a more political appointment but some wanted to make it a technical post at official level," said a diplomat.

The newly created post brings together under one hat roles previously fulfilled by Commission and Council officials to streamline the EU’s representation in Africa. The change comes as the EU wants to strengthen its relationship with the African Union.

A cabinet member of Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, is expected to be appointed next week as the Union’s new Africa envoy.