EU Flashcards
Pascal Lamy
When Delors became President of the European Commission in 1984, he took Lamy with him to serve as chef de cabinet, which he did until the end of Delors’ term in 1994. During his time there, Lamy became known as the Beast of the Berlaymont, the Gendarme and Exocet due to his habit of ordering civil servants, even Directors-General (head of departments) “precisely what to do – or else.” He was seen as ruling Delors’ office with a “rod of iron”, with no-one able to bypass or manipulate him and those who tried being “banished to one of the less pleasant European postings”.[2]
Lamy briefly moved into business at Crédit Lyonnais. Promoted to second in command, he was involved in the restructuring and privatisation of the bank.
Returning to the European Commission in 1999, Lamy was appointed European Commissioner for Trade by Commission President Romano Prodi. Lamy served to the expiry of the commission’s term in 2004. His ability to manage the powerful civil servants in his department was noted.[3] During his time in office, he pushed for a new Doha round of world trade talks and advocated reform within the WTO
On 13 May 2005, Lamy was chosen as the next director-general of the World Trade Organization, and took office on 1 September 2005 for a four-year term. He had been nominated by the European Union and won over candidates including Carlos Pérez del Castillo of Uruguay and Jaya Krishna Cuttaree of Mauritius.
On 30 April 2009, Lamy was re-elected unanimously by the WTO General Council for a second term of four years, beginning 1 September 2009.[5] He also served as the chairman of the organization’s Trade Negotiations Committee. He was the WTO’s fifth director-general.
Kristalina Georgieva
Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova (Bulgarian: Кристалина Иванова Георгиева-Кинова, born 13 August 1953 in Sofia[1]) is a Bulgarian politician and the current chief executive officer of the World Bank.[2] Until 2017, she was European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources in the college of the Juncker Commission.[3][4][5][6]
Georgieva was named “European of the Year” in 2010[12] and “EU Commissioner of the Year”[13] as an acknowledgment of her work, in particular, her handling of the humanitarian disasters in Haiti and Pakistan. Previously, she had been nominated among the candidates for the category “Commissioner of the Year”, the prestigious award organized by the European Voice newspaper.
