By Penelope Galliou

The re-election of Ursula von der Leyen to her presidency European Commission for a second term, he also accelerates the discussions in the European leaderships about the new commissioners who will represent their countries. As she said, next month she will focus on the staffing of the college of Commissioners for the next five years and will send a letter to European capitals asking for a female and a male candidate. He would hold a hearing of candidates after mid-August, he said, while calling for an equal number of female and male Commissioners for the next Commission.

But before the institutional procedures and the personal contacts of its president begin Commission with Commissioners-designate, it will have been preceded by the established “bargaining” that takes place at the level of behind-the-scenes processes with the European leaders in order for everyone to claim the portfolio they seek.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, are expected to be among the first leaders contacted by the re-elected Ursula von der Leyen, as they were the two leaders who, in a joint letter signed on behalf of the EPP, once again supported Ursula von der Leyen’s candidacy for the position President of the European Commission, while they supported and argued throughout the pre-election debate and negotiation that took place in the European Council in order for Mrs. Von der Leyen to re-claim and ultimately be re-elected.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis obviously has a number of people in mind for his next moves and the proposal to the President of the Commission, however, who will decide who will be the Greek Commissioner who will move to Brussels has a direct function and will be decided by the portfolio that Greece will eventually take over.

“The person I will propose, the Commissioner, will depend on the portfolio that the country will be able to claim,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis clearly stated during the interview he gave to the main SKAI news bulletin.

“I have my priorities but, as you understand, this is a decision that concerns only the President of the Commission, no one else. He is like the Prime Minister, who appoints Ministers. Legally it has this possibility. So, depending on the portfolio, depending on the person,” added the prime minister.

As for the portfolio he will claim for the country, he outlined it by describing how he wants “a portfolio which is obviously important not only for Greece but also for Europe, because anyway we don’t send a Commissioner to settle our own affairs our issues. The Commissioner, when he goes, wears a European hat”. What seems to be moving away from the framework of Greek claims is the Agricultural Policy portfolio, as opposed to the Competitiveness or Enlargement portfolio which would interest our country but there are correspondingly other strong claimants.

At the moment, however, the most prevalent scenario and name seems to be that of the Regional Governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas, who seems to be winning in the “bra de fer” for the anointing of the incumbent Margaritis Schinas, whose term is not expected to end to be renewed for a second five-year period, while the names under discussion for the College of Commissioners were also those of the Minister of Labour, Nikis Kerameos, the former Minister of State Stavros Papastavros as well as the Secretary General of the European People’s Party, Thanasis Bakolas.