The Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, announced on the evening of Wednesday 24 July that his government had unanimously agreed on the name of the candidate for the post of European commissioner: the minister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Síkela.
Mr Síkela “has skills, extensive international experience and has shown during his presidency (rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2022, editor’s note) at European level that he can solve problems”, Mr Fiala pointed out on X. He felt that Mr Síkela was a “relevant candidate with successful experience in the private sector and in politics”. According to the Czech prime minister, the current minister will be “a strong member of the European Commission”.
Mr Síkela felt that in recent years the Czech Republic had gained “a position as a reliable and constructive partner in Europe, which is now time to transform into a corresponding portfolio in the future composition of the European Commission”.
Although they belong to the family of European conservatives, MEPs from Mr Fiala’s ODS party publicly supported Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election as president of the European Commission (see EUROPE 13456/1).
On Thursday, Ms von der Leyen sent a letter to the Member States asking them to submit names of candidates for the post of European commissioner by 30 August. She asks them to propose two candidates, one man and one woman, unless they nominate an outgoing European commissioner. As in her first term, Ms von der Leyen hopes that the next College will respect gender parity.
Several Member States have already publicly announced their candidates. Apart from Ms von der Leyen and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas for the post of High Representative of the Union, Slovakia, Latvia, the Netherlands and France have announced that they are nominating outgoing Commissioners Maroš Šefčovič, Valdis Dombrovskis, Wopke Hoekstra and Thierry Breton respectively.
For Sweden, it will be the minister for European Union Affairs, Jessika Roswall (see EUROPE 13448/3). Finland has decided that its commissioner will be MEP Henna Virkkunen (see EUROPE 13433/30), Slovenia the former president of the Slovenian Court of Audit, Tomaž Vesel, and Ireland the Minister for Finance Michael McGrath (see EUROPE 13441/7). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)