Brüner to remain OLAF director

In a surprise decision, the European Commission, European Union (EU) Council of Ministers and the European Parliament have reappointed Franz-Hermann Brüner as director-general of anti-fraud office OLAF for the next five years. The decision was unexpected because both the parliament and the council had previously announced that they preferred alternative candidates and OLAF’s performance has been publicly criticised recently. However, three EU institutions confirmed Brüner’s reappointment on 7 February. EU anti-fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas said: “We have discussed, weighed the positions expressed by each institution and have agreed that Mr Brüner is best suited for the post.” He added that the German had a “strong mandate”.