Today, at its General Assembly meeting, the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) has elected Aris Prins, from the Royal Dutch Pharmacists Association (KNMP) as PGEU President for 2024 and Dimitar Marinov from the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union (BPhU) as PGEU Vice-President. Both will start their mandate from 1^st January 2024.

In his acceptance speech Aris Prins stressed: "I am truly honoured to have been elected to serve as PGEU President. 2024 will be a crucial year for the EU Institutions with the European elections in June 2024 and the beginning of a new mandate for the European Parliament and for the European Commission. In the run-up to the elections we will work to ensure that, following the lessons learned from COVID-19, health will remain a priority for the EU and that community pharmacists’ role in public health will continue to be recognised. Next year will be crucial also for the final adoption of the Regulation on the European Health Data Space and for the negotiations on the Reform of the EU pharmaceutical legislation. I am determined to ensure that on these important pieces of legislation - which are going to have a significant impact on our daily work - our views are well taken into account by policy makers. I will count on the great cooperation among PGEU members to address the key challenge we are all facing, namely medicines shortages, and to promote the role of pharmacists in the fight against antimicrobial resistance building on the recommendations we have adopted today at the General Assembly."

Aris Prins was elected as KNMP Chairman in December 2019 for an initial term of three years. He has been re-elected as KNMP Chairman in December 2022 for a second term of three years. Prior to his current position, Mr. Prins worked as a community pharmacist and served in leadership positions such as board member of the KNMP Community Pharmacy Section, mentor at Leiden University master's programme in Pharmacy, and pharmacist ambassador for the Vaccination Alliance initiated by the Dutch government. Prins worked as a hospital pharmacist in Ninewells Hospital in Dundee (Scotland) and graduated from Utrecht University with a master’s degree in pharmacy.

Dimitar Marinov stressed: “am very proud to have been elected as PGEU Vice-President. I look forward to working closely with all my European colleagues and with the PGEU Secretariat in Brussels and further enhancing the fruitful exchange of best practices and experiences among the national associations. The strong collaboration within the PGEU family is crucial for us all to advance pharmacy practice and  promote the contribution of community pharmacists for the national health systems".

Dimitar Marinov has graduated in pharmacy in January 2004. Immediately after that he started working as a  pharmacist in a community pharmacy. After almost two years, he started his own pharmacy, which he managed for almost 9 years. In the past three years, Mr. Marinov has worked as the Secretary General of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union (BPhU) - which is the professional organization of pharmacists in Bulgaria - and has recently been elected as BPhU President.