Ljubljana/Brussels - SocDems vice president Matjaž Nemec is to fill the European Parliament seat to be vacated by the party's head Tanja Fajon as she starts her term in the Slovenian National Assembly, which was entrusted to her at last Sunday's general election.

Nemec, currently the chair of the parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Commission and under the previous government the chair of the Foreign Policy Committee, came in third among the SD's candidates in the 2019 European Parliament election. Fajon and Milan Brglez ended up going to Brussels.

Fajon cannot serve both as an MEP and a Slovenian MP. Her term as MEP will end the day the new National Assembly is constituted.

In case Fajon becomes a minister as part of ongoing coalition talks she will be replaced in the National Assembly by Jonas Žnidaršič, a popular TV host and actor.