Romanian PM Ciolacu seeks economic portfolio at the European Commission

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu picked Social Democrat MEP Victor Negrescu as his candidate for the country's next European commissioner.

Transcript

00:00Romania's Prime Minister Marjel Csolhacu met with European Commission President Ursula

00:07von der Leyen in Brussels to discuss the country's candidate and portfolio in the new executive

00:13term.

00:18Similar to Italy and the Czech Republic, the Romanian leader declared he wanted his commissioner

00:23to have a portfolio linked to economic policies.

00:53Csolhacu's pick for the position is one of the vice presidents of the European Parliament,

01:12the socialist MEP Victor Negrescu.

01:16Bucharest also did not present a female name, despite Ursula von der Leyen requesting this

01:21from all member states.

01:23Negrescu justified his pick to Euronews by arguing that the last two Romanian commissioners

01:29were women and emphasised his youth instead, as he is 39 years old.

01:34I think what is important for the commission is to have someone that is involved at European

01:40level, that has the experience necessary to be part of the European Commission.

01:43Of course, I'm also young and I think we also need young people in the commission because

01:48we want to be appealing to young citizens across Europe that have participated quite

01:57to a large extent at European elections.

02:04The prime minister will only make the official announcement on August 26th, after a final

02:09battle with the other two parties in the government coalition, who have also presented

02:14candidates.

02:18Negrescu has been in the European Parliament for around a decade, interrupted by a year's

02:23experience as Minister for European Affairs.

02:27Ursula von der Leyen expects to receive the names of all the candidates from countries

02:31by the end of August.