03 Sir Julian Priestley

Sir Julian was the Secretary General of the European Parliament from 1997 to 2007. "In his role as Chief Executive of the institution, he was responsible inter alia for organising the policy advice for MEPs and the parliamentary committees, at a time when the legislative powers of the Parliament were being strengthened. He had also to prepare the Parliament for the largest Enlargement in the history of the European Union.

A known advocate for the improvement of the quality of EU legislation, Sir Julian led the administrative negotiations with Commission and Council to prepare agreements on Better Regulation. He reorganised the work of the EP’s committee secretariats to improve assistance to MEPs in their legislative work.

Sir Julian’s wide experience in the EU, and particularly in the European Parliament, has included stints as a member of a committee secretariat (Budgets), head of a secretariat (Energy, Research and Technology), Director responsible for all committees dealing with internal market legislation, and head of the Private Office of EP President (Dr Klaus Hänsch)." [from the EPPA website]