Bulgaria's EU commissioner could get regional policy portfolio

Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev has started talks with the candidates nominated so far by the parliamentary groups for the post of EU commissioner. This was confirmed to BNR by government sources. We recall that on August 27, in a letter to the parliamentary groups, the prime minister urged the groups to submit their nominations for EU commissioners by tomorrow, so that the government could present two Bulgarian candidates - a woman and a man - to the president of the European Commission by the end of Friday.

There is a possibility that the Bulgarian commissioner will be given the regional policy portfolio, BNR correspondent Angelina Piskova has learned from an informed source. According to another source, however, it would be more logical for the most likely commissioner, Ekaterina Zaharieva, to be given the enlargement or international trade portfolios. "The portfolio should depend on the commissioner's speciality," the source said.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to announce the new commissioners in mid-September. They will then have to be heard and approved by MEPs.