Martin Westlake is the Secretary-General of the European Economic and Social Committee

Secretary-General of the European Economic and Social Committee

The Secretary-General heads the Secretariat of the European Economic and Social Committee. About seven hundred EESC officials work in the EESC Secretariat...

, an EU advisory body. Appointed by the EESC's Bureau for a five year renewable term, he took up his current duties on 1 October 2008. Prior to that, Mr Westlake had served as a Director of Consultative Works and as Head of Communications in the Committee, which he joined in 2003.

Biography

Mr Westlake, 54 of British nationality, has had a lengthy career in various European institutions, including the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 (Secretariat General, DG X, DG Education and Culture), the Council of the European Union

Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...

 and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

(Strasbourg). Mr Westlake took a BA (hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University (University College), an MA in International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (Bologna Center) and a PhD at the European University Institute, Florence. He is an associate member of the Centre for Legislative Studies at the University of Hull and was a Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges (2000-2005). Mr Westlake has published widely on the European institutions and on European and British politics. He is also the author of a major political biography (Kinnock, The Biography).

Major publications

• Britain’s Emerging Euro-Elite? The British in the Directly-Elected European Parliament, 1979-1992, Dartmouth Press, London, 1994
• The European Commission and the European Parliament: Partners and Rivals in the European Policy-Making Process, Butterworth, 1994
• A Modern Guide to the European Parliament, Pinter, London, 1994
• The Council of the European Union, Cartermill International, London, 1995
• The European Union Beyond Amsterdam: New Concepts of European Integration (ed), Routledge, London, 1998
• The Council of the European Union (second edition), John Harper Press, London, 1995
• Leaders of Transition (ed), Macmillan, London, 2000
• British Politics and European Elections 1999, (with David Butler), Macmillan, London, 2000
• Kinnock The Biography, Little Brown, London, October 2001
• The Council of the European Union (third edition, with David Galloway), John Harper Press, London, 2004
• British Politics and European Elections 2004 (with David Butler), Palgrave, London, 2005

External links

Since taking up his current duties Mr Westlake has maintained a blog

• Secretary General webpages include speeches and interviews
• EESC official website