The new spokesman of the President of the European Council Charles Michel from August will be Ekaterina Kesinj, the current head of the cabinet of the President of the Republic of Moldova, who previously worked for the MEP from Romania Siegfried Muresan, reports POLITICO, cited by News.ro.

The European Council announced in a statement on Friday that Charles Michel’s current spokesman, Barend Leits, will join Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre De Croo’s office as director of communications, with Barend Leits taking over Ecaterina Houses.

It is interesting that Ekaterina Kessinge does not come from Charles Michel’s “Restore Europe” political family, but comes from the European People’s Party (EPP). Previously, she worked both for the EPP member of the European Parliament Siegfried Muresan and for the pan-European organization of the EPP, POLITICO notes.

“I think she has everything,” Muresan told POLITICO. “Ekaterina really has all the necessary powers,” assured the Romanian MEP. He says the different political affiliations between Kesinge and his future boss, Charles Michel, are irrelevant. “Political affiliation should be neither an advantage nor a disadvantage,” Muresan said.

The move comes just ahead of next June’s European Parliament elections and before Belgium takes over the six-month EU presidency in January, POLITICO reports.

This change is noticeable for Charles Michel, because he and his press secretary Barend Leits have known each other for almost ten years, writes the Brussels edition. Leits began working for Michel in October 2014, becoming his Flemish-language press secretary when Michel was appointed Prime Minister of Belgium. Leits then followed Michel to the European Council in December 2019.

The future of the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander de Croo, is currently uncertain. Belgium will hold elections in 2024, and it is not yet clear whether the current seven-party coalition will retain enough seats in parliament to continue governing the country, as several parties have lost in the polls. De Croo has expressed his desire to stay on as prime minister after the election, but diplomats have also suggested that he may be a candidate for one of the EU institutions after next year’s European Parliament elections, POLITICO writes.

As for Ekaterina Kesinge, she was appointed in July last year to the position of the head of the cabinet of President Maia Sandu. He has a higher economic education and a master’s degree in international political relations and communication. For 14 years, she was a senior media relations advisor at the European People’s Party, an advisor at the European Parliament and a financial sector policy advisor in Brussels.