Sefcovic First Commissioner-designate to Have Nomination Approved

Brussels, November 5 (TASR-correspondent) - Slovak Commissioner-designate Maros Sefcovic's nomination for the post of European commissioner for trade and economic security and interinstitutional relations and transparency was approved on Monday by two key committees of the European Parliament, Slovak MEP Branislav Ondrus (non-attached), who attended Sefcovic's hearing, has confirmed for TASR. "Slovakia is the first country to have a confirmed commissioner," noted Ondrus, claiming that this was the official result announced by chairmen of the Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) Sven Simon and International Trade Committee (INTA) Bernd Lange following a meeting of the coordinators of the political groups represented in EP working committees involved in the hearing. Ondrus remarked that formal decisions on the results of individual hearings of this kind will be collected by EP chair Roberta Metsola, who will present them to European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and release them when she's received all of them. The endorsement of Maros Sefcovic for the post has also been confirmed by weekly Politico, which cited three MEPs who took part in the evaluation meeting. Sefcovic was the first of the 26 commissioners-designate to undergo a three-hour hearing process. Under the rules, the candidates must be approved by the coordinators of the relevant committees by at least a two-thirds majority. zel/df