Wolfgang Götz (Germany) was chosen today to be the new Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
Following a public recruitment procedure launched in March 2004, the EMCDDA Management Board held an extraordinary session in Lisbon today to interview the four candidates short-listed for the post by the European Commission. Mr Götz was elected by a two-thirds majority by secret ballot. The meeting was chaired by EMCDDA Chairman Mr Marcel Reimen (Luxembourg).
Fifty-three-year-old Mr Götz is expected to take up the post on 1 May. He succeeds Georges Estievenart (France), whose mandate as Director came to an end on 31 December 2004 and who had headed the agency since July 1994. The EMCDDA extends its gratitude to Jaume Bardolet (Spain) who has assured the function of interim Director since the beginning of the year.
Mr Götz joined the EMCDDA in December 1996 to head the agency’s information department. Since 2001, he has been responsible for ‘Reitox and Enlargement’ (1), where he has played a central role in coordinating EMCDDA data-collection processes and preparing the agency for the entry of 10 new Member States in 2004.
He has spent the majority of his 28-year career working in the international and European arena in the field of information. Before joining the drugs agency, Mr Götz worked at Eurostat, Luxembourg (1994–1996), on the cooperation programme with the Central and East European Countries. From 1985 to 1994, he was EU project leader in the area of statistics and customs, working with the Togolese Government and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Mr Götz holds a Master’s degree in Economics (Photo available: http://www.emcdda.eu.int/?nnodeid=421).
