Robert Fico, Slovakia's prime minister, insisted that the new commissioner should have no political party affiliation.
"[The candidate] should be a professional with appropriate experience not only in diplomacy, but also with a view to activities in the European Commission structures," Fico said.
The PM stressed that the candidate would be selected once Slovakia knows which portfolio the country will receive.
Although no name has been officially circulated at this stage, political observers say the current Slovak ambassador in Brussels, Maros Sefcovic, fits the premier's description and is widely respected by Smer-SD, which is affiliated to the Party of European Socialists (PES).
Sefcovic has no experience in energy or transport policy, the two portfolios coveted by Slovakia. But as a career diplomat, he is clearly in pole position given that other candidates belong to political parties.
Sefcovic's fortunes are also helped by the outgoing Slovak commissioner's possible early return to domestic politics. Jan Figel', who intends to return to national politics as the leader of the Christian Democrats, may be elected as the new party chairman in less than two weeks. This would pave the way for Sefcovic's nomination as the interim commissioner in preparation for the permanent post.
Much will also depend on the fortunes of the EU's Lisbon Treaty. Even though Slovakia has ratified the treaty, there is a chance that the country will be stripped of its commissioner in the event that Ireland (or Poland or the Czech Republic) rejects the treaty. Indeed, under the Nice Treaty currently in force, the next team of commissioners needs to be smaller than the total number of EU member states.
Milan Urbani (Slovak MP; member of LS-HZDS), Lubomir Jahnatek (currently economy minister; Smer-SD) and Peter Ziga (state secretary at the economy ministry; Smer-SD) have also been named as possible candidates. But their chances are lower given their membership of a political party.
Recently, Romania announced that it will propose Dacian Cioloş, a former agriculture minister, as its next commissioner. Cioloş has no political affiliation.
Several countries have put forward names for commissioners, although it is still unclear if every government will given the chance to appoint their nationals to the EU executive. At least in theory, national administrations should wait until the Commission president has invited them to submit candidates, after having presented his expectations of them.
Under Lisbon, EU countries will keep their own commissioner until 2014, when a reduction of the college to 15 is envisaged. Should the Nice Treaty continue to apply, the number of commissioners would immediately be reduced to below 27.
Putting pressure on Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland, Germany recently warned that if Lisbon were not in force, then Berlin would ask for a 12-member Commission, or "maximum 18", thus implying that "problem countries" would not be represented in the college (EurActiv 15/06/09).
