After months of negotiations with European Union member states over the composition of the bloc’s executive branch following May’s parliamentary elections, European Commission President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker finally confirmed Wednesday the two new faces of EU aid.
Croatian Neven Mimica will become international cooperation and development commissioner, replacing Andris Piebalgs. Christos Stylianides from Cyprus, meanwhile, will take over the humanitarian aid and crisis management portfolio from Kristalina Georgieva, who becomes the new Commission vice president for budget and human resources.
The twin appointments of Mimica and Stylianides — who will shape EU development cooperation and humanitarian aid policy for the next five year Commission term — follow last week’s designation of Federica Mogherini, Italy's recently appointed foreign affairs minister, to succeed Catherine Ashton as high representative and head of the EU External Action Service.