The European Commission has appointed Michel Servoz, a French national, to be director-general of the European Commission’s department for employment, social affairs and inclusion, from 1 February 2014. He will replace Koos Richelle, who is retiring from the Commission.

Servoz is currently a deputy secretary-general at the Commission. Before that, in 2005-09, he was a director in the secretariat-general, with responsibility for the Europe 2020 strategy and the economic recovery plan.

In 2000-05 he was a head of unit working on the next financial perspective and the establishment of impact assessments. He joined the Commission in 1989, working in the departments for external relations and for trade.

A law professor and judge in Lyon, he also served as deputy secretary-general of the court of cassation in Paris, in 1985-88.

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Xavier Prats Monné, a Spaniard, has been appointed the next director-general of the Commission’s education and culture department. He is currently the department’s deputy director-general and replaces Jan Truszczyn?ski, who will retire next year. The appointment will take effect on 1 August 2014.

Prats Monné is currently in charge of mobility and co-operation programmes in education and culture such as Erasmus+ and the Marie Curie Programme, and represents the Commission on the governing board of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT).

Among his previous jobs in the Commission he has been director for employment policy (2007-10), director of the European Social Fund, and deputy head of the private office of Manuel Marin, the Commission’s vice-president in 1995-99.