Appointment of the new Secretary General of Copa - Cogeca
Greece's Elli Tsiforou has been appointed Secretary-General of the Copa-Cogeca at a meeting of the Presidium in Brussels on 27 June. She is the first woman to hold the post since the Secretariat was established in 1962.
Elli Tsiforou, who studied media and communication in her native Greece and France, has dedicated her career to representing the interests of farmers and cooperatives at European and national level. She later became Policy Adviser to the European and Greek Parliaments and Chief of Staff to the Greek Minister of Tourism and Culture. For the last 10 years, she has been working for GAIA Epicheirein (GAIA Epicheirein is a Greek organisation founded in 2024, which brings together around 150 000 farmers and 71 agricultural cooperatives). Tsiforou was EU Affairs Manager when the organisation was first set up and later took over as Director-General.
In the working groups of „Copa-Cogeca“, Elli Tsiforou has been involved since 2020 and is the Chair of the „Cogeca“ Cooperation Coordination Committee. She is dynamic and able to find compromises among the committee members. Elli Tsiforou will take up her post in September 2024. Until then, Patrick Pagani will remain in charge of the Copa-Cogeca Secretariat. As a reminder, Patrick Pagani has been acting as Copa-Cogeca Secretary General since February 2024, following the departure of former Secretary General Pekka Pesonen.
„Elli Tsiforou has an excellent knowledge of not only national but also EU agricultural policy, experience in dealing with farmers and cooperative leaders, and active participation in Copa-Cogeca, and I believe that she will be an excellent continuation of the work of the organisation, and will mobilise farmers and cooperatives from all our EU countries for our common goals. On behalf of farmers, agriculturists and rural development stakeholders from all over Lithuania, we congratulated Ms Tsiforou and wished her perseverance, determination and health. These are not only honourable, but also responsible and difficult responsibilities," said Dr. Arūnas Svitojus, President of the Lithuanian Chamber of Agriculture, who attended the meeting.
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