Jan MacLean has started as new National Member for Germany at Eurojust, succeeding former Vice-President of the Agency Klaus Meyer-Cabri. Mr MacLean has long-standing experience and expertise in international judicial cooperation, including involvement in the implementation and revision of the legal basis of Eurojust. Furthermore, he worked as Head of Division and counsellor at the German Ministry of Justice.
At the start of his tenure at Eurojust, Mr MacLean stated: 'I am absolutely delighted at having been appointed National Member for Germany. I really was not expecting this, but in retrospect it may be more than just a coincidence as Eurojust already played an important role in my professional life, first when I was part of the team drafting the domestic legislation pertaining to the original Eurojust Decision in 2002, and later when I was involved in the negotiations of the revision of the Decision in 2008 in Brussels. Anyway, I am really looking forward to working with colleagues here and back home.'
From 2017 up to last month, Mr MacLean was Deputy to the Permanent Representative of Germany at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, focusing on judicial cooperation and the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Previously, he worked as Head of Division at the Ministry of Justice, responsible for economic crime law and criminal procedures.
In between, in 2012 and 2014, Mr MacLean was seconded by the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) as Resident Twinning Advisor to the Kosovo* Ministry of Justice. Between 2007 and 2011, the new National Member for Germany was involved in the negotiations on the revision of the then-Eurojust Decision as a counsellor at the German Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels.
Prior to this role, Mr MacLean worked as a counsellor in both the German Justice and Interior Ministries focusing on international legal cooperation in criminal matters and combatting Islamic terrorism and extremism.
In 2001, he served for one year as a counsellor on civil aspects of child abduction at the German Office of the Federal Public Prosecutor. He started his career as a judge at the Regional Court of Berlin. Mr MacLean studied law at Heidelberg University. He is married and has two grown-up daughters.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union