ANTI-FRAUD: FRENCH AMBASSADOR QUERIES HOW OLAF HEAD WAS RE-APPOINTED.

• Position: Franz-Hermann Bruner appointed for European Anti-Fraud Office

On February 8, the European Commission announced that the current head of OLAF, Franz-Hermann Bruner had been appointed to serve a further five-year term. The Commission said Mr Bruner was the compromise candidate of the three institutions - Commission, European Parliament and the Council. However, the Council had favoured one of the two French candidates, Alain Gilette, an external audit director at the United Nations, followed by the Swedish candidate, former police commissioner Bjorn Eriksson, with Mr Bruner training far behind in third place. MEPs' first choice was Mr Eriksson, with Mr Bruner as second choice.

The decision to appoint Directors-General is usually the sole responsibility of the Commission. However, in this case, given public criticism of Mr Bruner's performance during his first term of office and accusations that the initial process to find a replacement had been engineered to guarantee the German a second term, the Council decided to interview all five candidates.

EU officials said the decision to reinstate Franz-Hermann Bruner was solely due to intense political pressure from the German government. While there is no proof that German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the issue directly with European Commission President Jose Manuel...