EU Commission President proposes Ekaterina Zaharieva as the new EU Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation

On 17 September, re-elected EU Commission President von der Leyen announced the names and allocated policy portfolios who will form the next College of EU Commissioners. Ekaterina Zaharieva (a Bulgarian MP and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs) has been entrusted with a portfolio named “Startups, Research and Innovation”, which she will oversee under the guidance of two Executive Vice-Presidents (for prosperity & industrial strategy; and tech sovereignty, security and democracy).

Zaharieva's mission letter (from the President of the EU Commission), which seems to be inspired by both the Draghi and Letta reports, includes the following task to be carried out by the new Commissioner:

• Focus on ground-breaking fundamental research and disruptive innovation, in particular by expanding the European Research Council and the European Innovation Council
• Proposing a European Research Area Act to guarantee a "fifth freedom" (free movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology) and to anchor innovation and research into the Single Market
• Drafting a European Innovation Act to streamline the EU regulatory framework and developing an EU start-up and scale-up strategy
• Preparing an Advanced Materials Act, a new Strategy for European Life Sciences and contributing to the planned EU Biotech Act
• Putting in place a strategy to increase the uptake of Al by European scientists and supporting to set up a European Al Research Council
• Setting up a long-term strategy to boost European Research Infrastructures
• Strengthening of research security, including support to identify and utilise dual-use and civil-military potential
• With regard to Horizon Europe, further simplifying access to funding and contributing to the further development of the New European Bauhaus    

Supporting the work to strengthen European University Alliances (which as well the planned European Degree and other educational topics are covered by the portfolio of Roxana Mînzatu, designated Executive Vice President for people, skills and preparedness)

Next steps: All Commissioners-designate will be scrutinised in public hearings (probably starting end of October/beginning of November) by responsible EP committees. After that, the Commission as a whole has to be approved in a single vote of consent by the European Parliament, after which the European Council formally appoints (by qualified majority) the Commission’s new leadership whose inauguration is still planned to take place at the beginning of December this year.

The complete press release can be found here.

You can find all the EU Commissioners presented here.

Source: KoWi