09 / 06 / 2023


EARTO Open Letter to the EC on EU Institutions Own Transparency: European Commission’s Who’s Who Digital Tool

The European Commission (EC) has recently made changes in the Who is Who directory of the EC. In this Open Letter to Ms Juhansone, Secretary-General of the EC, EARTO expresses its great concern about these changes. Indeed, a few weeks ago, not only contacts below the Head of Unit level were removed, but also all information regarding the functions, staff numbers and topics. From a stakeholder point of view, this new approach is very much to the detriment of the Research & Innovation community in Brussels which works closely with the EC in order to bring European funding closer to the users in the Member States and to foster an understanding of the EU institutions, their policies and funding instruments.   

The RD&I community in Brussels plays a vital role in communicating, explaining, training and guiding the public and private sector through the very complex European funding landscape. We work with your administration on a daily basis to make the added value of European research and innovation visible, accessible and tangible to our members across EU Member States.

To date, access to information, transparency and openness for a direct exchange with EC’s colleagues has been an asset for both sides. For us as multipliers, the ability to directly contact Policy & Project Officers as well as Head of Sectors has helped promoting European programmes and policies. Being able to easily identify who is working on which area within EU programmes across many Directorate Generals generates the necessary general understanding of how EU funding programmes are managed.

Read the full Open Letter here