Gert Jan Koopman has been appointed Director-General of DG NEAR as of 16 January 2023

On 16 November 2022, the European Commission decided to appoint Gert Jan Koopman, a Dutch national, as new Director-General of DG NEAR as of 16 January 2023. 

Gert Jan Koopman is currently the Director-General of the European Commission's budget department (DG BUDG) – a position that he has assumed since 2018. Previously, he was Deputy Director-General responsible for state aid control at the Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP). His earlier assignments included senior management posts in the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) as well as Enterprise and Industry (DG GROW).  At an earlier stage of his career, he was also a member of the Commission's Impact Assessment Board, assessing whether draft EU legislation would achieve the desired results.