By Patriarchal Letter dated 7 September 2023, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew announced new appointments to the Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union.
His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium, who was previously its supervisor, is now appointed president of the Office. Archimandrite Emilianos Boyiannou, who was initially (since 2004) secretary of the Office and since 2014 its director, is relieved of his duties. The Protopresbyters, Dr. Konstantinos Kenanidis and Pawel Cecha, clerics of the Holy Metropolis of Belgium, are now appointed as the general secretary and the adviser of the said Office.
The Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union was established following a decision of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in August 1994 and has been operating since January 1995. The Office was supervised by the Metropolitan of Belgium and had as its first director the then Archimandrite Emmanuel Adamakis (now Elder Metropolitan of the Metropolis of Chalcedon).
Since the establishment of CROCEU (Committee of Representatives of the Orthodox Churches to the European Union), the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople presides over this Committee.