Frutuoso de Melo to head development department

European Commission appoints new head of foreign aid department.

The European Commission has appointed Fernando Frutuoso de Melo, a Portuguese Commission official, as director-general for development co-operation. The appointment was made by the college of European commissioners today (24 July).

Frutuoso de Melo, who is currently deputy director-general for human resources and security, will replace Fokion Fotiadis, who retires at the end of October.

Frutuoso de Melo joined the European Commission in 1987 after working in the private sector and as a civil servant in Portugal. He worked in the Commission’s departments for development, for human resources and for fisheries before joining the private office of Olli Rehn in 2004, when Rehn was commissioner for enlargement.

In 2006, Frutuoso de Melo was appointed director in the Commission’s secretariat general, where he was in charge of relations with the European Parliament.

In 2009, he was appointed deputy head of the private office of José Manuel Barroso, the president of the Commission, and in May 2012 he was appointed to his current position as deputy director-general in the department for human resources and security.

The directorate-general for development co-operation – EuropeAid was formed in 2011 through a merger of the Commission’s department for development and the EuropeAid co-operation office. Fotiadis was the first head of the post-merger department. 

The department is in charge of formulating the European Union’s development policy and setting the broad outlines of sectoral policies in foreign aid, poverty reduction, and the promotion of peace and democracy, reporting to Andris Piebalgs, the commissioner for development.

The department also implements the European neighbourhood policy, reporting to Štefan Füle, the commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy.