Slovenia proposes Marta Kos for the European Commission

Marta Kos, a Slovenian liberal politician and former diplomat, is the country's new nominee for European commissioner, its government announced on Monday (9 September).

She replaces Tomaž Vesel, who withdrew his candidacy on Friday (6 September) under pressure from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who wants European Union member states to nominate more women.

Kos served as Slovenia's ambassador to Germany and then Switzerland. She later ran for president in 2022 on behalf of the liberal Freedom Movement, but withdrew from the race. Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob is from the same party, which sits with the liberal Renew Europe group at EU level.

Kos works in Brussels as a senior advisor for the lobbying firm Kreab, according to a profile page on the company's website.

Each of the EU's 27 member states nominates one person to serve as commissioner for a five-year term. The European Parliament can block candidates and the Commission president decides which portfolio each commissioner gets, but only the member states can put nominees forward.

Nevertheless, von der Leyen is putting pressure on some member states to replace their male nominees with women. She originally asked all member states to propose two candidates - a man and a woman - but most refused.

The Commission president is expected to announce which jobs she will allocate to which nominees on Wednesday (11 September). The would-be commissioners will then be grilled by EU legislators in European Parliament committee hearings due to be held in mid-October.

[Edited by Owen Morgan]