Slovenia’s national parliament is expected to end a procedural hold-up that has prevented the formal nomination of the country’s European Commission candidate on Wednesday (18 September).
The parliament’s EU affairs committee is due to meet on Wednesday for a hearing with the government’s choice for its next EU commissioner, Marta Kos, whom European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to put in charge of the European Union’s enlargement policy. The government cannot submit Kos’s nomination papers until the committee has given its opinion on her candidacy, even though that opinion is non-binding.
Ending the holdup in the Slovenian parliament and unblocking Kos’s nomination allows the European Parliament to begin its scrutiny of her, as well as other EU countries’ candidates for the Commission. On Tuesday, von der Leyen revealed which policy portfolios she wants to allocate to each would-be commissioner.
Kos’s formal nomination has been held up because the committee chair, Franc Breznik of the conservative opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), refused to hold a hearing with Kos. The SDS asked the government to provide more information about the withdrawal of its previous candidate, Tomaž Vesel.
Vesel withdrew his candidacy on 6 September, citing differences with von der Leyen.
In particular, the SDS wanted to see a letter that von der Leyen sent to Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob on 5 September, the day before Vesel withdrew.
Von der Leyen sent a copy of that letter to the Slovenian parliament early on Tuesday (17 September) morning. Opposition leader and former prime minister Janez Janša published the letter on X.
In her letter to Golob, von der Leyen implied that Vesel was not fit to “engage with Members of the European Parliament and of the Council and to successfully defend the initiatives the Commission submits to them, as well as to conduct very important negotiations with third [non-EU] countries on behalf of the [European] Union.”
“I regret to inform you that I am not in a position to propose Mr Tomaž Vesel to the Council of as part of the list of members of the Commission,” von der Leyen wrote.
Responding to the letter on X, Janša suggested Kos was already waiting in the wings to become the new candidate. He said the last-minute change reduces the time for scrutiny of what he called her “dark past.” SDS politicians have accused Kos of having collaborated with the communist secret police in the former Yugoslavia, which she denies.
Kos is now due to attend a hearing of the EU affairs committee on Wednesday, and the committee is expected to submit its opinion this evening.
To complete the procedure, Golob and his ministers must then meet to take note of the committee’s opinion, which is likely to happen tomorrow, Slovenian government sources told Euractiv.
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