Brussels, 25 March 2024
The European Consumer Organisation’s Executive Board has appointed Agustín Reyna as the next Director General. He will be taking over from the current DG, Monique Goyens, who is retiring this year after having led the consumer group network for almost 17 years.
Agustín will take office on 15 June. Monique will support the organisation until end of October to ensure a smooth transition of leadership.
Agustín, who hails from Argentina and is also a Belgian citizen, started his career at BEUC in 2010. He is currently BEUC’s Director of Legal and Economic Affairs, a member of the management team, and leading the organisation’s competition and financial services priorities. Throughout the recruitment process, supported by a recruitment agency, and that received several excellent applications, Agustin’s profile has been outstanding for his knowledge of the European consumer movement, his expertise in consumer policy matters, and for his advocacy and relationship skills.
Agustín Reyna commented:
“I could not be any prouder to become the new voice of consumer groups in Brussels at a time when it is increasingly difficult for consumers to navigate complex market realities. Think about greenwashing practices, payment scams, unsafe products sold online or lack of access to affordable, sustainable and healthy food – to name just a few of consumers’ hurdles. Consumer groups are more needed than ever, and I look forward to leading BEUC’s strong network to face the current and future challenges.
“BEUC has a 60+ year history of cooperating with the EU institutions and other stakeholders in a constructive, effective, and evidence-based way. I very much intend to maintain this tradition, with the support of BEUC’s staff and members.”
Monique Goyens, BEUC’s current Director General, added:
“I am incredibly proud to pass the baton to such a competent professional with whom I have been working closely for almost all my career at BEUC. I fully trust Agustín to maintain BEUC’s high professional standards and the consumer movement’s values which I have defended tooth and nail for the past 17 years.”
“After a busy career, I look forward to my retirement with mixed feelings. I have not been bored a single day in my whole time at BEUC and have had the privilege of meeting and exchanging with so many professionals not only within the consumer movement, but also with the institutions and other stakeholders. Be assured that I will keep consumer values high in my post-BEUC life. As I’ve always said to my departing colleagues: ‘you can check out any time, but you can never leave BEUC’.”
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Agustín Reyna developed BEUC’s competition law practice which led to the organisation’s interventions in high-profile European antitrust cases against Big Tech such as Google Shopping, Android, Amazon and Apple and pharmaceutical companies like Aspen.
Since 2018 he acts as non-governmental advisor for the Commission to the International Competition Network and represents BEUC in various European and international fora, including the OECD. He is member of the European Commission’s Financial Services User Group and of the European Securities and Markets Authority Stakeholder Group.
Agustín was born in 1985 in Córdoba, Argentina, where he studied law at the National University of Córdoba. In 2009, he moved to Belgium to follow an advanced master’s degree in information and communication technologies at the University of Namur. He holds a PhD. in law from the University of Bremen, Germany.
Source – BEUC