Maroš Šefčovič enters race to become European Commission president

The move comes roughly a year before voters elect a new European Parliament.

Maroš Šefčovič, Slovakia’s European Commissioner and vice president in charge of the energy union, signaled Monday that he wants to become the next European Commission president.

At a political meeting in Bratislava bringing together Social Democrats from the Visegrad 4 countries — Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland — plus Bulgaria, the Czechs tabled a proposal floating the nomination of Šefčovič, an EU official said.

“I am ready to build on this proposal from our Czech partners and positive signals from the other partners in the region,” Šefčovič told POLITICO in a written statement. “I believe European Social Democrats have a lot to offer in terms of solutions to the current challenges and I would like to, among other things, focus on ways to modernize our economies, making them cleaner, smarter, while ensuring that nobody is left behind.”

Monday’s move comes roughly a year before European voters elect a new European Parliament — and in the process help select the next Commission president.

The Party of European Socialists, the second largest grouping in the European Parliament, hasn’t yet settled on a candidate. However, the grouping has committed to the Spitzenkandidat process, under which the candidate put forward by the largest political coalition in the European Parliament would get the post.

Other possible Socialist candidates include the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and former Parliament President Martin Schulz.