Senate President and Chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday that making the European commissioner nomination when there is currently no designated portfolio is rather difficult.

„We argued our point of view that there should be a discussion within the coalition for the European commissioner nominee, because this is not about a specific position and a person to be picked by someone in particular, by a party leader or someone else. The way I see and understand it, this has to do with the relevance of the European commissioner, who is not the representative of a specific party, but is the representative of Romania and must enjoy the weight and freedom of movement at the level of the European Commission in order to understand and be able to implement everything related to their portfolio’s competencies. With no portfolio assigned yet, it seems to me that it’s difficult to nominate someone beforehand without knowing what they are going to do,” Ciuca told broadcaster TVR Info.

Asked what commissioner portfolio Romania could target, he indicated that Agriculture could be an option, because Romania is one of the countries that matter in Europe from this point of view.

„From the discussions we had with the prime minister, I gathered that he was interested in an economic field, the Economy portfolio, or perhaps the Internal market. We favored Enlargement or Agriculture, even though we held it before. After all, we must also look after our interest and what we are particularly keen on, because we have solid arguments. Romania is one of the top-ranking EU countries in terms of corn and sunflower production, so we matter in EU agriculture,” explained the PNL leader.

On September 2, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced that he will put forward Roxana Minzatu for the position of Romania’s European commissioner.

AGERPRES