Bristol City Council has appointed an experienced EU affairs professional to give the city a direct representative in Brussels for the first time.
Paul Davies’ appointment will build on Bristol’s longstanding relationship with Europe and is ideally timed as the city prepares to embark on its year as European Green Capital in 2015.
Paul, pictured, was born in Bristol but has spent the past eight years living and working in Brussels. His role will be to build on the city’s achievements and ambitions in areas such as transport, environment and climate change to leverage both EU and international opportunities, notably access to future funding. 
European funding worth trillion of euros will be available to universities, business and cities in the next seven years and Paul’s role is to help ensure that Bristol secures more than its fair share.
Paul will be primarily based in Brussels as the head of the Bristol Brussels office located within the London Brussels office. He has been appointed on a consultancy basis for up to three years. Dependent on the number of work days required by the post consultancy fees will be in the range of 60-80,000 euros per year including business costs, tax, insurance and phone.
Bristol mayor George Ferguson said: “This appointment represents an important investment and will strengthen our ability to access valuable European and international funding opportunities in the years ahead. Paul has a tremendous range of skills and experience which will help us to effectively monitor the impact of European policy and legislation on the city.
“While the candidates’ heritage was not part of the job description, we are also delighted that Paul is an enthusiastic Bristolian who maintains strong links with the city. We look forward to working with him during our European Green Capital year and hopefully well beyond.”
Paul’s career in Brussels began with an internship at the South West UK regional office and since then he has represented a number of organisations including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and provided consultancy to the European Commission with Deloitte.
He says: “I am looking forward to working with the council to strengthen the presence of my home city at the EU level. As Bristol's first permanent Brussels representative, I will have the exciting opportunity of ensuring that the city and its activities are known in Brussels – as well as helping to ensure that developments in the EU are fully exploited for the benefit of Bristol too.
“My employment background has given me an in-depth understanding, from different perspectives, of EU affairs. As a lobbyist, I represented regional and UK interests in Brussels. As a consultant, I helped implement large EU-funded programmes. Combined with my knowledge of and affinity with Bristol, this has provided me with what I believe are the relevant skills and experience for the role.”
Paul will work as part of the European and International team in Bristol City Council’s Bristol Futures Department which leads on Economic, Green, Digital and International development.
