New EUBAM head will be named not sooner than March

The new head of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine will be appointed not earlier than March, after the opening of the Mission's Regional Office in Chisinau, sources in the Public Relations Division of the EUBAM's Office in Odessa told Info-Prim Neo. The term in office of the former head of the Mission, General Ferenc Banfi expired on December 31, 2009. The post is held by Banfi's deputy Udo Burkholder on an interim basis. “A decision about the new head of the Mission will be taken in Brussels. No names of candidates are yet known,” said Marina Reshetneak, of the Public Relations Division of the EUBAM's Office in Odessa. Marina Reshetneak also said the Regional Office of the EUBAM in Chisinau will be inaugurated on February 5.