This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers
This is one of the more complex recruitment processes in Brussels. The entire procedure is meant to be open and transparent – though, as a result, it can appear time-consuming and a textbook illustration of EU bureaucracy. At stake is the appointment of the executive director of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), one of three EU agencies established in 2011 to strengthen the powers of EU institutions in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
On April 1, Damian Jaworski will take the helm. He will be responsible for the day-to-day management of an institution employing around 200 people and operating with an annual budget of EUR 42.7 million.
Mr. Jaworski was part of Poland’s EU accession negotiating team
Before that happens, he faces a move to Frankfurt, where the EU supervisor is headquartered. Mr. Jaworski has already begun surveying the city’s rental market. Demand is intense, with apartments finding tenants within hours of being listed. He remains undeterred. He is looking ahead to a term of at least five years. His predecessor, the Italian Fausto Parente, held the post for a decade.
Public service is nothing new to him; he has been engaged in it for nearly three decades. Damian Jaworski began his professional career in 1997 at Poland’s Ministry of Finance. As head of the financial markets development unit, he was responsible for parts of sector-specific regulation and for international co-operation. Before turning 30, he joined the team negotiating the terms of Poland’s accession to the European Union in the field of financial services.
After Poland joined the bloc, Mr. Jaworski moved to Poland’s permanent representation in Brussels, where he was responsible for the same portfolio (in EU parlance, he served as attaché for financial services). He negotiated, among other things, prudential regulations for the banking sector (the CRD and CRD II directives), the insurance sector (Solvency II), and measures aimed at strengthening the security of payments (the PSD).
He went on to lead a department at the Polish watchdog (KNF) for 14 Years
After five years in Brussels, in August 2009 he became deputy director of the Department of International Cooperation (then still called the Department of Foreign Cooperation) at the Office of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (UKNF). Less than three years later, he was appointed director of the department – a post he has held ever since. In the 23-strong unit, Mr. Jaworski has been responsible for day-to-day cooperation with international institutions.
“In practice, three quarters of our contacts are with the European Union,” Damian Jaworski explains. “We maintain constant, day-to-day relations with EU institutions and supervisory authorities in member states. We also prepare opinions and comments on legal regulations being drafted in Brussels.”
At present, the department is focusing, among other things, on the Markets Integration Package (MIP). This is a comprehensive set of new regulations presented by the European Commission on December 4, 2025. Its aim is to reduce the fragmentation of financial markets in the European Union, facilitate cross-border activity, and strengthen supervision. Another key area is ESAP – the European Single Access Point – which is intended to provide a single gateway to all public data on companies and financial products in the EU. The department is overseeing work on implementing this regulation in Poland.
He sat on EIOPA’s governing bodies a decade and a half ago
When Mr. Jaworski joined the UKNF, Brussels was finalizing – amid post-crisis reforms – the regulatory framework establishing three EU supervisory authorities for different segments of the financial sector. Alongside EIOPA, these included the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), both headquartered in Paris.
With his Brussels experience, Mr. Jaworski quickly became Poland’s principal representative to EIOPA. In January 2011, he joined EIOPA’s Management Board. At the time, Mr. Jaworski was said to be the first Pole to sit on the management board of the newly created European supervisory authorities. His term ended after two and a half years.
That was not the end of his career at EIOPA. He continued to serve as Poland’s main representative on the Board of Supervisors of the EU authority – a role he still holds today. This is EIOPA’s highest decision-making body, responsible for setting strategic directions, adopting projects, and taking key decisions affecting the insurance market and occupational pension schemes. Each EU member state has one representative on the board.
EIOPA sets the tone, drafts acts and issues guidelines
Another key figure at EIOPA is the chair, elected for a five-year term. The chair leads the work of both the Management Board and the Board of Supervisors. The role is currently held by Petra Hielkema of the Netherlands. She is responsible for preparing and delivering the authority’s work program and for representing EIOPA in dealings with, among others, the European Parliament and the European Commission. The second pivotal role at EIOPA is that of executive director, who oversees the institution’s day-to-day management. Until the end of March, this post is held by Fausto Parente.
“The early years of EIOPA were about building a new institution,” Damian Jaworski notes. “At the outset, the team numbered just 20 people, but it expanded rapidly. At the same time, the Solvency II framework was coming into force, and EIOPA focused on implementation and ensuring harmonization. An institution that was refined over many years is now fully mature and ready for new challenges.”
Like the EBA and ESMA, EIOPA does not have a legislative initiative when it comes to directives and regulations. It does, however, take part in the legislative process. It can conduct analyses and encourage the European Commission to launch work on regulating specific areas. One example is the pensions gap, where EIOPA has sought to highlight the issue as an area of heightened systemic risk.
In addition, the authority is responsible for drafting so-called Level 2 measures – implementing acts that set out the detailed rules for applying individual EU insurance and pensions regulations prepared by the Commission. These acts are then formally adopted by the Commission. EIOPA is currently engaged in such work, for example, on the Insurance Recovery and Resolution Directive (IRRD). Representatives of Poland’s Bank Guarantee Fund play an important role in this process, as we reported in January 2025.
The authority also has the power to issue guidelines, comparable to recommendations issued by Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority. It does so when it sees a need to clarify rules beyond what is set out in the adopted legislation. EIOPA may also launch infringement procedures if it finds that a member state’s insurance or pensions supervisor is applying EU law incorrectly.
Mr. Jaworski was questioned at least five times
Damian Jaworski began his bid for the post of executive director in June 2025. In response to a vacancy notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union, he submitted his application for the position that was about to become available. His candidacy, along with the others, was first assessed for formal eligibility by a dedicated selection committee composed of representatives of EIOPA’s Board of Supervisors and the European Commission.
Several candidates advanced to the next stage and were invited to hour-long interviews with the selection committee. Before reaching that point, however, they spent a full day in Brussels, where an external firm assessed their managerial and financial competencies. Particular emphasis was placed on strategic decision-making, conflict resolution, operating under time pressure, and organizing the work of large teams.
This was followed by an informal hearing before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and a formal hearing before EIOPA’s Board of Supervisors. From the small group of finalists, Jaworski received a formal nomination for the post in October. The following month, he appeared before ECON once again – this time in an official capacity. In December, the motion to appoint him was put to a plenary session of the European Parliament. He received 606 votes. Only then could his appointment be considered definitive. The entire process lasted six months.
“Would I call this bureaucracy? No,” Damian Jaworski stresses. “I would describe it as care for the transparency of the process and for avoiding important decisions being taken behind closed doors. The aim is to ensure that the person selected best meets the requirements of the role.”
He will implement three core strategic priorities
As he acknowledges, the questions he faced concerned, among other things, EIOPA’s priorities for the next five years, its approach to consumer protection, and the impact of climate risk on the insurance market. He was asked how to improve the authority’s operational efficiency and how to respond to the opportunities and challenges associated with artificial intelligence. A significant share of the discussion focused on crisis management – for example, how to handle the insolvency of an insurer operating across borders.
Shortly before Jaworski takes up his post, EIOPA adopted its strategy for 2025–30. It sets out three strategic areas of action: strengthening the integration of the EU market; increasing the resilience of markets and society to new risks; and ensuring effective and consistent regulation, while simplifying rules and procedures wherever possible.
“Regulatory simplification is indeed one of the strongest trends in the EU,” Damian Jaworski emphasizes. “EIOPA is currently reviewing how to streamline regulations introduced in previous years – so that insurance companies face lighter reporting requirements and can free up additional capital that could support the economy. At the same time, it is crucial to ensure that policyholders remain adequately protected and that the market becomes more deeply integrated, with any differences between countries and supervisory authorities eliminated efficiently and swiftly.”
Deregulation in the EU? It carries the risk of pro-cyclicality
Another issue is strengthening resilience to threats. EIOPA conducts systematic analyses to maintain the most up-to-date possible understanding of external risks. This includes real-time risk monitoring, as well as sensitivity and risk analyses showing how fluctuations in market, climate and economic factors can affect the stability of the sector. EIOPA also carries out stress tests. In future, these are expected to become more forward-looking than in the past, capturing risks that were not anticipated in earlier years. As a result, they should more effectively assess how insurers and pension schemes would cope with such shocks.
And what about deregulation? In Damian Jaworski’s view, it carries the risk of pro-cyclicality – after a crisis, various areas are regulated, only to be deregulated later, paving the way for the next crisis.
“There is already a minimum threshold that EIOPA will not cross when it comes to consumer protection and the safety of the sector,” he argues. “If, however, there is scope to automate certain processes in a way that reduces the burdens stemming from existing rules, the functioning of the sector will improve.”
He highlights challenges in the pensions sector…
Damian Jaworski is cautious about specifying concrete plans before taking office. He does, however, point to several potential challenges that EIOPA currently faces and will sooner or later need to address.
“We are seeing demographic changes and ageing populations,” he notes. “In some EU countries, insurance products still guarantee a fixed level of benefits once a certain age is reached. Maintaining this model is difficult given these trends. Insurers and pension funds are increasingly challenged to meet these promises. This is why, for example, the Dutch system is changing: instead of a predetermined benefit, the payout depends on the contributions collected and investment performance.”
In this context, the issue of the pensions gap arises. In response, the EU introduced Individual Pension Products (OIPE), which, however, have largely failed to gain traction. One reason was their inherently cross-border nature, which made them niche products by design. Low distribution fees also discouraged institutions from offering them. EIOPA is therefore proposing a change in the product’s name, aligning cost limits with its actual value, and is also advocating for consideration of automatic workplace enrolment.
…and insurance products
Another challenge is climate change and its impact on insurance. Climate shifts are increasing the number of areas where it is difficult to insure homes and apartments. EIOPA has a response: public–private partnerships (PPPs).
“They can address the problem economically, making insurance affordable for entire populations, even in areas where premiums would otherwise be prohibitively high. The best example of this approach is Japan, but there are similar solutions in Italy and France. This shows that effective models already exist, and without PPPs, the issue cannot be solved,” Damian Jaworski emphasizes.
A further challenge is the effective supervision of troubled insurers operating across borders without a physical presence in a given country. Some local supervisors, such as in Poland, use what is called the “nuclear option” – an immediate ban on operations. This was the case with the Bulgarian firm DallBoggi.
“Moreover, in some EU countries, revoking a licence is not immediately enforceable. As a result, before a licence can be effectively withdrawn, the matter can drag on in courts for years, and the problematic company continues to operate. EIOPA is discussing how to address this and whether EU-level supervision could ultimately step in to take over such cases and see them through to completion. This would serve to protect consumers,” Mr. Jaworski notes.
EIOPA is also considering how to ensure that capital freed up in the insurance sector is directed toward key, long-term investments, rather than – for example – dividend payments to shareholders. The authority is awaiting the establishment of a resolution committee, which will be responsible for implementing the IRRD directive in practice. This is scheduled to be applied in all member states by the end of January 2027.
Expert's perspective
EIOPA should react more often ex ante to potential problems
A major task for the organization in the coming years will also be the implementation of new prudential frameworks, notably the revision of Solvency II and the IRRD directive. EIOPA will not only have to support national supervisory authorities in implementing these measures, but also develop a comprehensive set of Level 2 and Level 3 instruments in cooperation with national authorities. Ensuring consistent application of the new rules across the EU, while preserving proportionality and the competitiveness of the European insurance sector, will be critical.
Among EIOPA’s priority tasks will be a coordinated approach to the digital transformation of the insurance sector. This includes the parallel implementation and supervision of operational resilience frameworks under DORA, as well as the provisions of the AI Act. It requires a coordinated approach to managing cyber risks, ICT outsourcing, and the use of artificial intelligence systems.
More than half of the EU population is now over 45, placing significant pressure on pension systems. In this context, EIOPA will face the challenge of active and coordinated engagement in the development of supplementary insurance initiatives, including the revision of the PEPP Regulation and the IORP II framework.
Key Takeaways
- From Warsaw to Brussels, and now to Frankfurt: Who is EIOPA’s new Chief Operating Officer. Damian Jaworski has been nominated as EIOPA’s executive director and will take office on April 1, assuming responsibility for the day-to-day management of the EU’s insurance and pensions supervisory authority. He is a civil servant with nearly 30 years of experience in public administration and financial regulation. He began his career at Poland’s Ministry of Finance, where he negotiated, among other things, Poland’s EU accession. Over the past 14 years, he has headed the Department of International Cooperation at the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). He has also served as Poland’s principal representative on EIOPA’s Board of Supervisors.
- Six months of hearings and 606 votes in favor: How an EU agency director is selected. The recruitment process for EIOPA’s executive director was multi-stage and extended over several months: from formal candidate selection, through managerial competency tests and a series of interviews, to hearings in the European Parliament and the final plenary vote. The entire process lasted about six months. According to our interlocutor, although it is time-consuming, it is also transparent, ensuring that the person ultimately chosen best meets the requirements of the role.
- Pensions, climate, and regulatory simplification: EIOPA’s agenda for the toughest years Ahead. EIOPA now faces challenges associated with implementing its 2025–30 strategy, including market integration, regulatory simplification, and strengthening sector resilience. Key issues include the pensions gap and ageing populations, the impact of climate change on property insurance, and the supervision of cross-border insurers. EIOPA will also be responsible for implementing the IRRD directive and finding a balance between deregulation and maintaining system safety and consumer protection.