Czech PM Petr Fiala (ODS) held talks in Brussels yesterday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is currently deciding on the composition of her new team. After the meeting, Fiala described the meeting as pleasant and constructive, but did not give further details on the content of the talks.
Czech government spokeswoman Lucie Jesatkova told CTK that neither Fiala nor the Government Office were planning to comment on the meeting.
On Wednesday, the Czech government will give its final approval to the nomination of Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela (STAN) as the Czech EU commissioner. Fiala wants to negotiate a significant economic portfolio for Sikela. The proposal will be presented to the members of the Czech parliament’s Europe committee on Wednesday morning.
At the end of July, von der Leyen asked EU governments to submit the names of two candidates for her to choose from, one woman and one man, by 30 August. The Czech cabinet had decided the previous day to propose only one candidate for commissioner. “We agreed that regarding the candidates, their competences, experience and chances of winning the portfolio, the best strategy is to have one,” Fiala said then.
The junior government coalition partner STAN originally sought to nominate two candidates, in view of Prague’s earlier talks with von der Leyen, originally also proposing the newly elected MEP Danuse Nerudova as the Czech Republic’s female candidate.
Each EU member state has one representative on the commission. The new commission will start working in November, five months after the June European elections.
According to Euronews, von der Leyen has a difficult task ahead of her, as some countries, including Belgium and Bulgaria, are currently experiencing internal political problems. Later this week she will meet Marcel Ciolacu, the prime minister of Romania, another country that has not yet submitted its nomination for EU commissioner. Once all the candidates are known, von der Leyen needs to match each commissioner with a political role, while ensuring a certain degree of political and gender balance among the commission members.
Fiala previously said openly that he wants to secure a prominent position for the Czech Republic in the next term, writing on social media that the country’s portfolio should reflect its position “at the centre of Europe”. However, as usual, according to Euronews, the economic roles that determine the direction of the EU’s single market are the subject of the most intense competition.
