Brussels, 9 March 2023
On 9 March 2023, the Council appointed Ms Emer Finnegan as the new Director-General of the Council Legal Service and as Legal Counsel of the European Council and the Council.
She will take up her new post on 1 April 2023.
Emer Finnegan, an Irish national, has been a Director in the Council Legal Service since December 2015. Since October 2018 she has been the Director responsible for legal issues in the Competitiveness, Environment, and Transport, Telecom, and Energy Councils.
She joined the Legal Service in 1999, and has provided legal advice in many policy areas, including Justice and Home Affairs and External Relations. She has also worked on the Constitutional Treaty, the Treaty of Lisbon, and the Croatian Accession Treaty, as well as the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the UK.
Prior to joining the Legal Service, she worked as a référendaire in the General Court in Luxembourg and as a solicitor in Brussels and Dublin. She studied Law and French at University College Galway, Ireland, and European Law at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.
The Legal Service assists the European Council, the Council and its preparatory bodies in ensuring the legality and the drafting quality of legal acts. In cooperation with other departments, it contributes to identifying legally correct and politically acceptable solutions. To that end, it gives opinions in complete impartiality – orally or in writing, at the request of the Council or on its own initiative – on any question of a legal nature. The Legal Service also represents the European Council and the Council in proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Emer Finnegan replaces Ms Thérèse Blanchet, who became Secretary-General of the Council on 1 November 2022.
Source – EU Council