Jochen Penker and Jurijs Spiridonovs elected Chair and Vice-Chair of ACER Administrative Board
The Administrative Board of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) elected unanimously its new leadership for the next two years.
The new Chair, Dr Jochen Penker, is Director for International Energy Affairs in the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism of Austria. He has a wide-ranging experience in national, EU and external energy affairs. The new Vice-Chair, Dr Jurijs Spiridonovs, is adviser to the Board of Directors with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and assistant professor at RISEBA University in Riga. He has an extensive experience in energy and environmental policy, EU budget and public finance.
The Administrative Board is responsible for adopting the Agency's Work Programme, its internal rules of procedure, its budget and final accounts. It shall also ensure that the Agency effectively carries out its mission and appoints the members of the other Boards and the Director.
Following his appointment, Dr Penker stated “it is an honour to serve as chair of the Administrative Board of ACER. I stand for the Agency's mission towards the completion of the single energy market to the benefit of all European consumers. The effective and efficient implementation of EU law will help achieving the Union's climate and energy goals. ACER is built on the principles of inclusiveness, independence, solidarity, integrity and sustainability. I will work to guarantee their full application when ACER performs its mandate, including its recent additional tasks, as assigned by the Clean Energy Package for all Europeans. I look forward to a constructive and inclusive cooperation with the Agency's Director and his team, the Members and Alternates of the Administrative Board, and the Board of Regulators."
Dr Spiridonovs stated “I am looking forward to contribute further to the activities of the Agency serving in this new role of Vice-Chair of the Administrative Board. I will work with the Administrative Board towards ensuring a rigorous budgetary support for the Agency's mandate and tasks so that the Agency can effectively and actively contribute to the agenda of the European Institutions to the benefits of European consumers and future generations, ensuring, at the same time, savings for the EU Member States".
Dr Penker and Dr Spiridonovs, thanked, on behalf of the Administrative Board, Mr Alberto Pototschnig, Director ad interim and father of the Agency, for having established and led it over the last nine years, making the Agency a recognised actor in the energy sector. They thanked the Agency's staff for the excellent results in overcoming the challenges of establishing a fully integrated energy-market and their readiness in facing the future challenges of the Clean Energy Package and the green agenda.
They finally thanked Dr Romana Jordan for her commitment in chairing the Administrative Board in the last four years and for supporting the Agency in the attempts made to seeing the Agency recognised with adequate human and financial resources effectively mirroring the tasks and mandate of the Agency.