1.Member States shall be invited to make submissions of candidates to become members of the European panel. The participation of Member States in the process shall be voluntary. Each Member State shall have the right to submit only one candidate. In order to ensure a balanced geographical representation, Member States which have experts appointed by the Council for the previous term shall be excluded from participation.
2.Submissions shall be made in writing and clearly demonstrate that a given candidate is an independent expert with substantial experience and expertise in the fields relevant to the objectives of the action, and is committed to work on the European panel, in line with the requirements laid down in part 1 of the Annex. Those submissions shall also contain a duly signed declaration as set out in part 2 of the Annex.
3.The submissions shall specify, for each candidate, one main category of expertise from among the following:
—European history and cultures,
—education and youth,
—cultural management, including the heritage dimension,
—communication and tourism.
4.A draw shall be organised from among the submissions acknowledged by the relevant preparatory body of the Council with a view to selecting one candidate in each of the four categories referred to in paragraph 3. The first name drawn for each category shall be considered as selected. This selection shall subsequently be approved by the Council.
5.If there are no candidates in one or more categories, one or more additional candidates shall be drawn from the categories in which there are most candidates. If there is only one candidate in a given category, that candidate is deemed to be selected without a draw.
6.If a member of the European panel is not able to fulfil his or her mandate, the Member State that appointed that member shall appoint a replacement as soon as possible. This appointment shall fulfil the requirements laid down in parts 1 and 2 of the Annex and apply for the remainder of the term of office of that member.