Slovenian prime minister backs Commission nominee after controversy

NEW YORK — Slovenia’s Prime Minister Robert Golob said his country’s European Commission nominee Marta Kos’ ability to get along with Ursula von der Leyen played a key role in landing her the nomination.

“I really believe that she will get along well with the president of the European Commission, because from what I hear they’ve got some chemistry between the two of them,” the Slovenian leader said in an interview with POLITICO on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. 

The announcement of the new Commission by von der Leyen was the culmination of months of public and private strategy to put her stamp on the new Commission. In the new lineup, none of the dissenting voices from her first term remain. Big personalities such as France’s Thierry Breton and the Netherlands’ Frans Timmermans are now gone.”  

After her reelection for a second term, von der Leyen also said she wanted “an equal share” of men and women in her top team. Slovenia was one of two countries — the other was Romania — to swap a man for a woman.

“So it was both gender equality — but more than that, the profile of the person for the enlargement portfolio, and this is where the new candidate fits,” Golob said, referring to Slovenia being assigned the enlargement portfolio, which includes steering membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova. That process could take years. 

“Since the president of the Commission, for various reasons, decided to entrust a larger portfolio to Slovenia, we needed to look for a more fitting candidate for that particular job,” he added.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced the EU to completely change how it thinks about enlargement, Golob said.

But he said it was vital that the EU applies the same standards to Ukraine as to other would-be members, warning that Europe had left its south-eastern flank “vulnerable” to Russian influence over recent years. 

“We understand that realistically speaking, full membership [for Ukraine] at this stage is not realistic, and yet we want to give them a chance to get closer to us. It’s not a one-step solution,” Golob said, adding that Slovenia is in line with the European Commission’s incremental approach to enlargement policy. 

Slovenian politics has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks over the commissioner post after the initial candidate for the job — Tomaž Vesel — pulled out and was replaced by Kos because of von der Leyen’s push for gender balance. 

The center-left prime minister said that Kos, a diplomat-turned-executive, whose prior work record has come under scrutiny, had the experience necessary for the position. She was Slovenia’s ambassador to Germany and Switzerland between 2013 and 2020 and resigned in the wake of complaints by employees at the embassy about inappropriate management.

“I do believe she is the right person for the job because of her extensive experience in the diplomatic corps which is something she will need substantially,” said Golob. “Plus she also worked for private business,  the chamber of commerce, so she has a wide range of experience.”