European Commission President changes candidate for Commissioner for Enlargement and Recovery of Ukraine

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has announced that she will give the portfolio of European Commissioner for Enlargement and Recovery of Ukraine to the Slovenian diplomat Marta Kos, and not, as expected, to Latvian politician Valdis Dombrovskis.

Ursula von der Leyen noted when presenting her new commission to the European Parliament that the process of officially nominating Marta Kos for the post of European Commissioner from Slovenia is ongoing.

"She [Marta Kos] will be the Commissioner for Enlargement, also responsible for the Eastern Neighbourhood, and she will work on supporting Ukraine and continuing the work on the reconstruction and support the candidate countries to prepare for their accession," von der Leyen said.

The portfolio was expected to go to Latvian politician and experienced European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.

One of the obstacles to Valdis Dombrovskis's delegation of this portfolio was the too-high concentration of foreign policy powers among representatives of the Baltic States, given that Estonian Kaja Kallas will head the EU's foreign policy service and Lithuanian Andrius Kubilius is to become the Commissioner for Defence and Space.

The fact that negotiations with Slovenia on the nomination of a woman to the European Commission were being conducted until the last minute and the parties' arguments in this dialogue were not made public may have also played a role.