The European Commission has decided today to appoint Richard Sonnenschein as Director ‘Criminal Justice’ for its Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST). This Commission department is responsible for EU policy on justice, consumer rights and gender equality. The date of effect of this appointment will be determined later.
Richard Sonnenschein, a German and Croatian national, brings with him his profound knowledge of criminal justice as well as his many years of experience in security management. He will also draw on his advanced negotiating and management skills obtained over the course of two decades of service in the Commission.
Richard Sonnenschein is currently Acting Director ‘Criminal Justice’ in DG JUST where he is for example in charge of the environmental crime Directive, the setting up of the European Public Prosecutors Office and the establishment of the UA Task Force ‘Freeze and Seize’. Prior to that, he was the Administrative Director of the European Public Prosecutors Office in Luxembourg. Earlier in his career, he worked for nine years in the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security (DG HR) as Principal Security Adviser and Head of the Protection and Crisis Management Unit. Before joining the Commission in 2003, he occupied several functions in the German public and judicial sector. He was notably Head of the Mayor’s Office in Stuttgart and started his career at the District Court in Offenburg.