EU nominates first ever commissioner for startups

Bulgaria’s Ekaterina Zaharieva has been nominated to become the European Commission’s first-ever commissioner for startups, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced today, while also nominating Finland’s Henna Virkkunen and France’s Stéphane Séjourné for key roles in shaping the EU’s tech policies over the next five-years.

“We must put research and innovation, science and technology at the centre of our economy. [Zaharieva] will make sure that we’ll invest more and focus our spending on strategic priorities and groundbreaking technologies,” von der Leyen said.

Zaharieva previously served as deputy prime minister of Bulgaria between 2017 and 2021. Her portfolio will also cover research and innovation.

New commissioner roles

During a press conference on Tuesday, the commission president presented a new structure for her team of commissioners and proposed candidates from all EU member states to take over different portfolios.

Virkkunen, formerly a member of the European Parliament where she also worked on digital policies, is expected to take over the role of the commission’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, and to become the commissioner for digital and frontier technologies.

Séjourné, former French minister of Europe and foreign affairs, is a last-minute replacement for Thierry Breton, the outgoing industry commissioner who was the mastermind of key EU tech policies over the past five years, including the AI Act and the Digital Markets and Services Acts — and who on Monday surprisingly resigned from running for the next commission’s mandate.

Séjourné is expected to become the commission’s executive vice president on prosperity and industrial strategy, and to take over the portfolio for industry, small and medium enterprises and the internal market.

Von der Leyen said that she’s based the distribution of the portfolios of her so-called college of commissioners around her political guidelines and core priorities for the next five years, such as improving the bloc’s competitiveness and strengthening its tech sovereignty through “bold industrial strategy” and “innovation and investment” at its heart.

Additionally, Portugal’s Maria Luís Albuquerque has been nominated to become the commissioner of financial services — who will oversee investment policies and the completion of the capital markets union.

All nominees will now have to participate in hearings at the European Parliament — then its members will have the power to approve or veto their appointments. The new commission is expected to start working in November.