There is growing speculation that the planned announcement of EU commissioner jobs will be delayed beyond Tuesday.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is scheduled to reveal portfolios for her incoming team of EU commissioners early next week.
The Irish Government has stepped up a lobbying push to secure as high-ranking role as possible for its nominee, former finance minister Michael McGrath, with other EU countries also lobbying hard for their commissioners.
The chief spokesman of the commission said Dr von der Leyen still hopes to announce portfolios for each nominee on Tuesday. The German politician had planned to detail the make-up of her new team during a meeting with the leaders of all the European Parliament political groupings in Strasbourg.
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A political row in Slovenia over a late change to their nomination is holding up the process, as a parliamentary committee there has delayed signing off on the country’s new candidate.
The central European country had originally put forward Tomaz Vesel, the former president of its court of auditors, as its next commissioner. However, at the last minute, Mr Vesel pulled out and the government picked Marta Kos, a former diplomat and liberal politician, as its nominee at the start of this week.
The opposition party, the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), has accused the government of bowing to pressure from Dr von der Leyen to replace Mr Vesel with a woman.
A parliamentary committee chaired by a politician from the SDS has so far refused to meet to confirm the nomination of Ms Kos.
Several EU officials expressed significant doubts that the commission president would be able to announce the the commissioner appointments in the first half of next week as planned.
Speaking on Friday, a spokesman for the commission said there was still “a long time until Tuesday” and they were watching how the situation in Slovenia developed. “We are in contact with the Slovenian authorities on this and we will continue to be until the end of the process,” he said.
If Slovenia’s commissioner nominee is not formally confirmed before Tuesday, Dr von der Leyen will “cross that bridge once we get there”, the spokesman said.
The delay in the commissioner jobs being finalised is likely to prompt another push by each country to lobby Dr von der Leyen. The Irish Government has said it is pushing for a finance-related role for Mr McGrath, but competition for economic portfolios is intense.
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