The European Commission decided to split DG TREN (Directorate-General for Energy and Transport) into two DGs:
- DG ENER (Energy) and
- DG MOVE (Transport).
The new DG CLIM (Climate Action) was also carved out of DG Environment.
The new Energy DG consists of the departments dealing with energy issues in the former DG Energy and Transport. The Energy Task Force previously at the External Relations DG will also be transferred to the new Energy DG. The position of Director-General for Energy will be assumed by Philip Lowe, a British national, currently Director-General in DG Competition.
The Climate Action DG will be created from the relevant activities in DG Environment, the activities in the External Relations DG related to international negotiations on climate change and the activities in the Enterprise and Industry DG related to climate change. Jos Delbeke, a Belgian national and currently Deputy Director-General in the Environment DG, has been appointed Director-General for Climate Action.
To advance the Commission's strategic approach on research, a task force, to be chaired by the Secretary-General of the European Commission (under President Barosso), has been set up. This will launch a strategic reflection at Commission level on the evolution of the research budget, the degree of externalisation in the management of research programmes and the links between research and other policies in organisational terms.
To read more about the recent insitutional changes in the European Commission, please click here.