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