Matthew Kaminski named Executive Editor of European edition of POLITICO / Launching in Spring 2015.

POLITICO and Axel Springer, the owners of the POLITICO joint venture in Europe, announced today that they have acquired EUROPEAN VOICE and will rebrand the respected Brussels publication as POLITICO in the spring of 2015.

The acquisition is a cornerstone of POLITICO's drive to become the leading new media publication on European politics and policy, a strategy that is being funded by an investment by the joint venture, a partnership between POLITICO and Axel Springer SE.

The owner and publisher of the EUROPEAN VOICE, Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson, will become managing director of POLITICO's European operation, in charge of business operations, the joint venture announced.

POLITICO's European news operation - which will include more than 30 journalists with headquarters in Brussels and reporters in major capitals, will be led by Executive Editor Matthew Kaminski, a senior journalist and commentator on international affairs with The Wall Street Journal, who lived in Europe for 15 years from 1993 to 2008 and will return to Brussels shortly after the new year.

POLITICO's European editorial operations will launch in spring 2015 with a website, POLITICO.EU; a weekly newspaper with circulation in Brussels; conferences and events in Brussels, Paris and Berlin; and a European edition of POLITICO Pro, a subscription-based news service covering major European policy coverage areas, such as financial services, technology, health care and energy.

Kaminski will report to POLITICO co-founder and Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris, who will be overseeing the vision and execution of POLITICO's European newsroom in his position as chairman of the joint venture's editorial committee. As editor in chief, Harris will be a regular presence in Brussels as the joint venture takes one of the most influential brands in American journalism to the European arena.

"Our ambition is clear - to be Europe's leading publication on politics and policy, with a newsroom that will be headquartered in Brussels and with a reporting team whose footprint will extend across the continent," said Harris. "This shared ambition is what makes the POLITICO-Axel Springer partnership such a natural team. And it is what made Matt Kaminski and Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson such natural choices for this assignment."

The EUROPEAN VOICE website, newspaper and events will all be integrated with POLITICO at the time of the spring launch. The joint venture will also take ownership of Paris-based Development Institute International (DII), France's leading event promoter in the public affairs space, a business Semsar-de Boisséson co-founded in 1993. DII will continue to operate as a standalone business led by its Managing Director and co-founder Stephane Baudoin.

Semsar-de Boisséson will report to a management committee in which Axel Springer and POLITICO are equally represented.

"We see EUROPEAN VOICE, a familiar and well-respected platform in Brussels, as giving our joint venture an invaluable head start in establishing POLITICO as the new media agenda-setter at this historic moment in European politics," said Ralph Büchi, President of Axel Springer International. "From the moment we met Shéhérazade, it was clear that her strong personality, energy and experience made her exactly the right person to lead this business."

In other developments announced by POLITICO and Axel Springer, both organizations are assigning top editorial and business talent to the new venture. Bill Nichols, POLITICO's editor-at-large, will serve as the joint venture's founding editor-at-large. Florian Eder, EU correspondent for DIE WELT, will become a managing editor. Carrie Budoff Brown, senior White House reporter for POLITICO, will become associate editor and senior reporter. POLITICO's Gabe Brotman will oversee strategy and business development.