Bulgaria will get a regional policy portfolio in the new European Commission, BNT learned from sources in Brussels. This means that the Bulgarian European Commissioner will be responsible for cohesion policy and support for the regions.
Ursula von der Leyen is expected to announce who will be the members of the new European Commission on September 11 or 12 at a special press conference in Brussels. After that, the interrogations of the European Commissioners in the relevant committees of the European Parliament begin.
Only after they are approved by the MEPs, the new European Commission can take office. Brussels is hoping for a new one on November 1, but if some of the candidates fail to present themselves well in front of the European Parliament, there is a possibility that the Commission will take office later.
In Von der Leyen's new European Commission, there will be only executive vice-presidents, and not vice-presidents as before. There will also be a few new springs – European Commissioner for Defence, for the Mediterranean, for Enlargement, for Oceans and Fisheries and for Housing Policy.
We remind you that so far there are two proposed Bulgarian European Commissioners. The candidate of GERB is Ekaterina Zaharieva, and of “There is such a people” – Dr. Velislava Petrova.