Govt Will Wait for Election Result to Nominate Commissioner

05. 06. 2014

Govt Will Wait for Election Result to Nominate Commissioner


The outgoing government will wait until after the election on 13 July to nominate candidate for European commissioner, FM Karl Erjavec said after two opposition parties proposed candidates from their ranks. This means the nominee might not be put forward by the outgoing government.


Erjavec, the president of the coalition Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), told the press that the heads of coalition parties agreed at a meeting with PM Alenka Bratušek on Monday that the nomination of Slovenia's candidate for EU commissioner will wait.

 

The balance of political powers will be known after the July parliamentary elections, and a decision will be made on this basis, Erjavec said after the Democrats (SDS), the relative winner of the EU elections, proposed today its MEP Milan Zver for the post and New Slovenia (NSi) said that Lojze Peterle, a MEP of their own, deserves the job.

 

It is therefore not clear at the moment whether Slovenia's EU commissioner will be nominated by the outgoing or the new government. Erjavec hopes that the election result will "tell something or suggest as to which direction the government should go".

 

 

The coalition Social Democrats (SD) believe that a broad consensus should be reached on the commissioner, which is more likely to happen after the elections. This is the only way to find a candidate with the support from a government with full powers, deputy group head Matjaž Han said.

 

The Alliance of Alenka Bratušek (ZaAB) meanwhile said that the nominee will be put forward by the government which will be in power when the time for the decision comes. The deadline is the same for every country regardless of the political situation and it is "expected that each member put forward its proposal in time".

 

Positive Slovenia (PS), which is headed by Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković, said that it had not discussed any names, noting that the nomination of the country's EU commissioner is in the jurisdiction of the government.

 

The SDS believe that Zver should be nominated because he also received the biggest number of preference votes in the 25 May elections, arguing that the failure to accept the proposal would "go contrary to the principles of democracy and would increase the democratic deficit".

 

NSi meanwhile proposed former PM Peterle as the perfect man for the job, noting that he has been elected for a third term in the European Parliament after having served several senior posts in Slovenia.

 

Peterle has also been endorsed by the People's Party (SLS), which ran with the NSi on a joint list in the EU elections. With his experience both from senior posts in Slovenia and from the European Parliament, he is "a highly competent candidate for such a post," the party said in a press release.

 

The SLS however believes that the nomination should wait for the result of the early parliamentary elections, "as possible nomination of a candidate for the European commissioner by the caretaker government is illegitimate".

 

Commenting on the two candidates put forward by the SDS and NSI, Erjavec said Slovenia should send to Brussels a commissioner who is credible, professional and respectable. He doubts that Zver could succeed Janez Potočnik, who is finishing his second term as EU commissioner.

 

Bratušek's party said that the appointment of commissioners have no direct correlation with the EU elections, which means that Zver "is not any better or a worse candidate for the commissioner post as anyone else". What is more important is what portfolio will be assigned to Slovenia, the party added.

 

The coalition Citizens' List (DL) supports the incumbent commissioner Potočnik, and if he decides to make himself available for another term, the party would endorse him regardless of the outcome of the election.

 

Source: The Slovenia Times

 

Govt Will Wait for Election Result to Nominate Commissioner