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1. The Director of the Foundation shall be appointed by the Governing Board for a period of five years from a list of at least three candidates submitted by the Commission. Before being appointed, the candidate selected by the Governing Board shall be invited to make a statement before the competent committee(s) of the European Parliament and answer questions put by its/their members. In the course of the last nine months of that five-year period, the Commission shall, on the basis of a prior evaluation by external experts, undertake an evaluation which shall assess, in particular:

— the performance of the Director,

— the Foundation's duties and requirements in the coming years. The Governing Board, acting on a proposal by the Commission, taking into account the evaluation report and only in those cases where it can be justified by the duties and requirements of the Foundation, may extend the term of office of the Director once for not more than three years. The Governing Board shall inform the European Parliament of its intention to extend the Director's term of office. In the month before the extension of his/her term of office, the Director may be invited to make a statement before the competent committee(s) of the European Parliament and answer questions put by its/their members. If the term of office is not extended, the Director shall remain in office until the appointment of his/her successor.

2. The Director shall be appointed on the basis of merit, administrative and management skills and expertise and experience in the field of work of the Foundation.

3. The Director shall be the legal representative of the Foundation.

4. The Director shall have the following functions and powers:

(a) to prepare, on the basis of general guidelines established by the Commission, the draft annual work programme, the draft estimate of expenditure and revenue of the Foundation, its draft rules of procedure and those of the Governing Board, its draft financial rules, and the work of the Governing Board and of any ad hoc working parties convened by the Governing Board;

(b) to participate, without the right to vote, in meetings of the Governing Board;

(c) to implement the decisions of the Governing Board;

(d) to implement the Foundation's annual work programme and respond to requests for assistance from the Commission;

(e) to perform the duties of authorising officer, in accordance with Articles 33 to 42 of the Framework Financial Regulation;

(f) to implement the Foundation's budget;

(g) to put in place an effective monitoring system to enable the regular evaluations referred to in Article 24 to be carried out and, on this basis, prepare a draft annual activity report;

(h) to present the annual activity report to the European Parliament;

(i) to manage all staff-related matters, and in particular exercise the powers provided for in Article 21;

(j) to define the Foundation's organisational structure and submit it to the Governing Board for approval;

(k) to represent the Foundation before the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article 18.

5. The Director shall be accountable for his/her actions to the Governing Board, which may, on a proposal from the Commission, remove the Director from office before his/her term of office has expired.