Ursula von der Leyen gets impatient: In a letter to Boris Johnson, the designated EU Commissioner for Heads calls on the British Prime Minister to nominate a British EU commissioner "as soon as possible".
In addition, according to a Commission spokeswoman, she also "encouraged" Johnson to propose a woman to facilitate a gender-equal EU Commission. The British government should name one or more names.
The Leyen wants to complete their commission team as soon as possible, as they had to give up their originally scheduled for November 1 launch date and postponed to December 1. Von der Leyen wanted to hold on to this date, said the Commission spokeswoman.
The British had deliberately renounced the nomination of an EU Commissioner because of the Brexit date on 31 October. However, after the deadline has been extended by up to three months until the end of January, Von der Leyen sees the London government in duty to nominate a Commissioner.
It is conceivable that the current British EU Commissioner for Security Policy, Julian King, will be re-nominated. King was part of the team of outgoing Commission Chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
Romania and France have done their duty
Another EU country made its nomination on Wednesday after: The Romanian government proposed the two MEPs Adina Valean and Siegfried Muresan. Both belong to the conservative party PNL of Romania's Prime Minister Ludovic Orban. The decision between Valean and Muresan should meet the future EU Commission head. With Valean von der Leyen would come closer to their goal of a joint commission.
A staff proposal by the recently ousted Social Democratic government of Romania under Viorica Dancila had previously been rejected by the European Parliament. The Legal Affairs Committee had denounced financial conflicts of interest from Dancilas candidate Rovana Plumb.
Previously, France had already appointed former Treasury Secretary Thierry Breton as the new Internal Market Commissioner after Sylvie Goulard was unexpectedly rejected by the European Parliament.
