Eric Fournier, France's candidate for the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau
Eric Fournier, France's candidate for the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau
Eric Fournier, Director of Spectrum Planning and International Affairs at the ANFR, is now the European candidate for the post of Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau (BR). The election will take place at the Plenipotentiary Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2026.
Two declared candidates
In September 2024, Eric Fournier's candidacy was announced by the French delegation to its European counterparts at the meeting of the ITU Policy Committee (Com-ITU) of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT). At the same time, Germany announced that Alexander Kühn was also a candidate.
To avoid a double European candidacy, which would lead to a double failure in the final election, Com-ITU advised the two candidates to agree that only one should campaign.
Between October and December 2024, the Directorate General for Enterprise, which oversees the ANFR, and the German ministry organised three bilateral meetings to discuss the choice of candidate. As these discussions were unsuccessful, the two administrations asked the Chairman of Com-ITU to ensure that the February 2025 meeting would be able to answer this indicative question.
A single European candidate
Until February 2025, the two candidates therefore campaigned with the CEPT administrations to obtain their support. With the support of the DGE and the Permanent Representation in Geneva, requests for support for the French candidate were formulated and discussions were organised with the frequency managers, ministries and Com-ITU participants.
A vote to express COM-ITU's preference
On 27 February, the ITU Policy Committee (Com-ITU) of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) expressed its preference between the two candidates in an indicative vote. Eric Fournier received 16 votes and Alexander Kühn 12. Nine countries abstained.
Eric Fournier's campaign will be extended to convince all ITU Member States. The challenge will be to prove that the French candidate will be in the best position to mobilise the expertise and skills of the Radiocommunication Bureau and thus meet the many challenges facing the Bureau from 2027!