By Martin Banks - 4th August 2011
I am delighted to appoint three excellent candidates
Catherine Ashton
Three new directors have been appointed in the European external action service, the EU's diplomatic corps.
The appointments come the day after the EU announced a swathe of other new senior posts to the EAS.
The latest appointments include Frans Jacob Potuyt, a Dutch diplomat, who becomes director for security, and Koen Vervaeke, a Belgian diplomat, who becomes director for the Horn of Africa, east and southern Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
Fernando Gentilini, an Italian diplomat, becomes director for western Europe, the western Balkans and Turkey.
They will take up their new duties in the coming weeks, following the completion of the necessary administrative formalities.
The posts were announced on Thursday by EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, who said: "I am delighted to appoint three excellent candidates to these key posts in the EAS. Their experience and expertise will be invaluable to us as we continue to build the service. They are testament to the high calibre of diplomats working in the EAS. I look forward to cooperating closely with them over the coming years."
Jacob Potuyt is currently head of mission at the Netherlands embassy in Kazakhstan.
As former security director of the Netherlands foreign ministry, he gained extensive security management experience in high risk locations such as Beirut, the Balkans, Palestine and Afghanistan.
Vervaeke is currently special representative and head of delegation to the African Union in Ethiopia.
He was previously Belgian ambassador to the Great Lakes region and political counsellor to the UN in Geneva and Bujumbura, Burundi.
Gentilini is currently seconded as senior adviser to the EAS on the western Balkans.
He previously held a number of senior management positions in NATO, the EU and the Italian ministry of foreign affairs.
