Europe Desk, Delhi Magazine: During a press conference on Tuesday, August 13, the Polish government revealed that Piotr Serafin has been nominated as the country’s candidate for EU commissioner. This decision had been previously announced during a meeting of Poland’s Council of Ministers.
Reports have confirmed that Serafin is indeed the nominee for the EU commissioner position. Unofficial information from the Polish newspaper “Rzeczpospolita” had indicated that his name would be revealed. Currently, Serafin serves as the chairman of Poland’s Permanent Representation to the European Union, succeeding Andrzej Sadoś in this role.
“The proposal of Mr. Piotr Serafin as a member of the European Commission was unanimously and enthusiastically accepted by the Council of Ministers,” announced Donald Tusk following the government meeting. It remains unclear which portfolio Serafin will be assigned, though he has been most frequently associated with the position of commissioner responsible for the enlargement of the European Union. In mid-July, the Polish newspaper “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna” reported that Poland is expected to receive the energy portfolio in the new term of the European Commission. A source from “DGP” emphasized at the time, “There is no concern about his qualifications; he is highly competent and well-recognized within the EU environment.”
Piotr Serafin’s Qualifications
Piotr Serafin was the Director of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU from 2020 to 2023, overseeing transport, telecommunications, and energy. He is one of Donald Tusk’s closest associates, having previously served as the head of Tusk’s cabinet for five years during Tusk’s tenure as President of the European Council. From 2012 to 2014, Serafin was Poland’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, responsible for European affairs, including negotiations on the EU’s financial perspective post-2014. Between 2010 and 2012, Serafin was Deputy Head of the EU Commissioner’s Office for Financial Programming and Budget, and prior to that, he spent 11 years working at the Office of the Committee for European Integration. He holds degrees from the Warsaw School of Economics and the University of Warsaw and has been a scholarship recipient of the U.S. Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic.