Following the entry into office of two new judges of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities, Mr A. W. H. Meij et Mr M. Vilaras, the Members of the Court of First Instance today re-elected Judge Bo Vesterdorf, one of their number, as President for a period of three years from 18 September 1998.

Bo Vesterdorf, born in 1945; Jurist-Linguist at the Court of Justice; Administrator with the Danish Ministry of Justice; Deputy Judge; Legal Attaché with the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the European Communities; temporary judge at the Østre Landsret (Eastern Regional Court); Head of the "Constitutional and Administrative Law" Department at the Ministry of Justice; Director at the Ministry of Justice; University lecturer; Member of the Human Rights Steering Committee at the Council of Europe, then Member of the Bureau; Judge at the Court of First Instance since 1 September 1989; President of the Court of First Instance since 4 March 1998.

The President of the Court of First Instance directs the judicial business and the administration of the Court of First Instance; he presides at plenary sittings and deliberations.