The year started out strong for eu-LISA's Management Board, who held its first 2023 meeting on 12 January in Tallinn, Estonia.
The main items on the meeting's agenda included the appointment of the new Executive Director of the Agency.
Following a selection organised by the European Commission and a hearing from the European Parliament, three short-listed candidates were presented to the Management Board. After a formal hearing of the candidates, the Management Board appointed
Ms Agnes Diallo as the new Executive Director of eu-LISA. She will take the helm of the Agency from Mr Luca Tagliaretti who is currently the interim Executive Director.
"After the successful 10-year period of eu-LISA's first Executive Director, Mr Krum Garkov, the Management Board elected today an Executive Director for the second time in its history. The Board gave a vote of confidence to Ms Agnes Diallo, who will take over the office in the coming months. I hope that the new director will continue to contribute to the success of eu-LISA, and, at the same time, will provide new inspirations for the implementation of the complex tasks facing the Agency", said Mr Zsolt Szolnoki, Chairperson of the eu-LISA Management Board.
During the first part of the meeting, the Management Board appointed also Ms Marina Durán Romero as Accounting Officer of eu-LISA.
In the second part of the meeting, the
Interim
Executive Director, Mr Luca Tagliaretti, the
Chairperson of the SIS II Advisory Group, Mr Manuel Kamper, the
Chairperson of the EES-ETIAS Advisory Group, Mr Theofanis Syrigos, and the
Chairperson of the EES Programme Management Board, Mr Rene Vihalem, informed the Management Board about the latest state of play of the Schengen Information System (SIS) Recast and the Entry/Exit System (EES).
There was optimism about the
SIS Recast following positive news coming from the Member States. According to the current plan, the date of
Entry into Operation of the system on 7 March 2023 is confirmed.
For EES, the planned
Entry into Operation of May 2023 is considered no longer achievable due to delays from the contractors. The Agency is currently preparing a revised timeline that will presented for approval at the JHA Council in March 2023. The Management Board invited all stakeholders to continue their preparations for a
target date within the end of 2023. In particular, border crossing points should be fully equipped for the use of the Entry/Exit System by the end of the year.
The next eu-LISA Management Board meeting is scheduled for 14-15 March 2023. Summaries of the regular eu-LISA Management Board Meetings are published on the Agency's
website.
