EUROPE – The European Commission has appointed Klaus Wiedner to replace Karel Van Hulle as head of unit dealing with pensions and insurance in the Internal Market Directorate General (DG).
Wiedner, an Austrian national, has moved "horizontally", as he was at nominally the same rank as head of unit dealing with public procurement legislation, in the same DG.
He officially took up his new post on 18 March.
Wiedner has been working at the European Commission since 1996.
His career there started in the legal service, where he was involved mainly with competition and public procurement law.
Until 2004, he represented the Commission in more than 100 cases at the European Courts in Luxembourg.
From November 2004 to March 2013, he was first deputy head, then head of unit in Internal Market and Services.
He was responsible for the general reform of European procurement rules, defence procurement, the relationship between public procurement and other policies and the enforcement of procurement rules in EU member states.
Before joining the Commission, he had had been a civil servant with the Austrian Ministry for Economic Affairs from 1993 to 1995.
Wiedner obtained a law degree at Graz, Austria. He also studied in the College of Europe Bruges, Belgium.
His predecessor in the pensions and insurance post, Van Hulle, resigned from the Commission and left at the end of February.
The position deals with legislation concerning long-term investors to cover future pension liabilities, in both the occupational pension sector and in insurance.
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