At its meeting on Friday, the Government unanimously approved the nomination of former President of the Court of Audit, Tomaž Vesel, as the Slovenian Commissioner to the European Parliament. Vesel will be presented before the National Assembly’s Committee on European Union Affairs before the proposal is sent to Brussels, which is expected to be received by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen by the 30th of August.
The Ministers had initially planned to approve Tomaž Vesel‘s nomination on Wednesday, but in line with Slovenian law, they were waiting for a call from Brussels, which the President of the European Commission sent to the Member States on Thursday.
As Prime Minister Robert Golob is currently in Paris to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Deputy Prime Minister Matej Arčon chaired Friday’s “coffee meeting,” which lasted only a few minutes.
Hearings scheduled for October
Before the final confirmation, the Government must send the proposal for its nomination for the Commissioner to the National Assembly, where the candidate is presented before the Committee on EU Affairs, in accordance with the law on cooperation between the National Assembly and the Government when it comes to EU affairs. The Committee will vote on the proposal and deliver an annotated opinion. The opinion is not binding for the government.
This will be followed by a presentation of the candidate in Brussels. President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, plans to then start talks with the candidates for Commissioners, on the basis of which she will allocate areas of responsibility to them, as early as the middle of next month.
Hearings and confirmation of the candidates by the relevant committees of the European Parliament are then expected to take place in October, and the new Commission could take office towards the end of the year, following confirmation by the Parliament’s plenary.
C. Š.
