Article 15 Director
United Kingdom
The Agency shall be headed by a Director appointed by the Management Board in accordance with a cooperation (concertation) procedure provided for in paragraph 2.
The Director shall be appointed on the basis of his or her personal merit, experience in the field of fundamental rights and administrative and management skills.
This cooperation procedure shall be as follows:
on the basis of a list drawn up by the Commission after a call for candidates and a transparent selection procedure, applicants will be asked before an appointment is made to address the Council and the competent European Parliament Committee and to reply to questions;
the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union will then give their opinions and state their orders of preference;
the Management Board will appoint the Director taking these opinions into account.
The Director's term of office shall be five years.
In the course of the nine months preceding the end of this period, the Commission shall undertake an evaluation. In this evaluation, the Commission shall assess in particular:
the performance of the Director; and
the Agency's duties and requirements in the coming years.
The Management Board, acting on a proposal from the Commission, taking account of the evaluation report, and only in those cases where it can be justified by the duties and the requirements of the Agency, may extend the term of office of the Director once for not more than three years.
The Management Board shall inform the European Parliament and the Council about its intention to extend the Director's mandate. Within a delay of one month before the Management Board formally takes its decision to extend this mandate, the Director may be asked to make a declaration before the competent committee of the European Parliament and to answer questions from its members.
If the term of office is not extended, the Director shall remain in office until the appointment of his/her successor.
The Director shall be responsible for:
performance of the tasks referred to in Article 4 and in particular the preparation and publication of the documents drawn up in accordance with Article 4(1) (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) and (h) in cooperation with the Scientific Committee;
preparation and implementation of the Agency's Annual Work Programme;
all staff matters, and in particular the exercise in respect of staff of the powers laid down in Article 24(2);
matters of day-to-day administration;
implementation of the Agency's budget, in accordance with Article 21;
implementation of effective monitoring and evaluation procedures relating to the performance of the Agency against its objectives according to professionally recognised standards. The Director shall report annually to the Management Board on the results of the monitoring system;
cooperation with National Liaison Officers; and
cooperation with civil society, including coordination of the Fundamental Rights Platform in accordance with Article 10.
The Director shall perform his/her tasks independently. He or she shall be accountable for the management of his/her activities to the Management Board and shall participate in its meetings without voting rights.
The Director may be called upon at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council to attend a hearing on any matter linked to the Agency's activities.
The Director may be dismissed by the Management Board before his or her term has expired, on the basis of a proposal of a third of its members or of the Commission.