By decision of 29 May 1997 the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States appointed seven Judges and four Advocates General to the Court of Justice for the period from 7 October 1997 to 6 October 2003.

By that decision the terms of office of Mr Claus Gulmann, Mr John Murray, Mr Gil Carlos Rodríguez Iglesias (at present the President of the Court), Mr Romain Schintgen, Mr Leif Sevón and Mr Melchior Wathelet, Judges, and of Mr Francis Jacobs and Mr Dámaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, Advocates General, are renewed.

Since three Members of the Court cease their duties on 6 October 1997, the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States also appointed their successors. The outgoing Members are Mr Constantinos Kakouris, Judge at the Court of Justice since 14 March 1983, Mr Carl Otto Lenz, Advocate General at the Court of Justice since 11 January 1984, and Mr Michael Bendik Elmer, Advocate General at the Court of Justice since 7 October 1994.

Accordingly, on 6 October 1997 the Court of Justice of the European Communities held a formal sitting on the occasion of the end of the term of office and the departure of Mr C.N. Kakouris, Judge, and Mr C.O. Lenz, Advocate General, and of the entry into office of Mr Krateros Ioannou as Judge and Mr Siegbert Alber as Advocate General.

Mr Jean Mischo is to take up his duties as Advocate General in place of Mr M.B. Elmer at a formal sitting of the Court of Justice in December 1997.

Krateros Ioannou was born in 1935. He was called to the Bar of Thessaloniki in 1963 and received a doctorate in international law from the University of Thessaloniki in 1971. Professor of public international law and Community law at the law faculty of the University of Thrace, he acted as legal adviser at national and international level; in particular, he was a Member of the Greek Delegation to the General Assembly of the UN from 1983 and Chairman of the Committee of Experts for the Improvement of the Procedure under the Convention of Human Rights of the Council of Europe from 1989 to 1992.

Siegbert Alber was born in 1936. Following law studies at the universities of Tübingen, Berlin, Paris, Hamburg, Vienna, Turin and Cambridge, he sat as a member of the Bundestag from 1969 to 1980. Elected to the European Parliament in 1977, he was a member of numerous committees, in particular of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights, which he presided over between 1993 and 1994. He was also chairman of the delegation responsible for relations with the Baltic States and of the subcommittees on data protection and on poisonous and dangerous substances. Between 1984 and 1992 he was Vice-President of the European Parliament.

The Judges will elect a new President of the Institution tomorrow, 7 October 1997.