Tomaž Vesel, a 57-year-old former president of the Court of Audit, has been put forward as Slovenia's sole candidate to serve on the next European Commission.

The government endorsed Vesel on 26 July, a day after the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sent a letter to EU countries asking them to nominate candidates for commissioner posts. She asked each country to nominate a man and a woman, except when the incumbent commissioner is staying on.

Slovenia's current commissioner is Janez Lenarčič. He is in charge of crisis management.

Before Vesel is formally put forward to von der Leyen, he will present his bid to the parliamentary European Affairs Committee. The committee's opinion on the candidate is not binding on the government.

Govt says Vesel strong candidate

Speaking to reporters after the government session, Deputy Prime Minister Matej Arčon said that given his experience, Vesel was a very competent candidate.

"This is a candidate who is very competent, credible and enjoys broad political support," said Arčon, the minister for Slovenians abroad.

He rejected the criticism that the government had failed to heed von der Leyen's call for EU countries to nominate a man and a woman for the post.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Robert Golob said that Vesel would be the only candidate, noting that the nomination of commissioner candidates was within the purview of member states.

Arčon said it was competence rather than sex that was key in selecting the candidate. He said Slovenia was not the only country to nominate a sole candidate.

Repeat of 2014 situation not expected

Golob's party picked Vesel as the candidate in April, before even finalising its list of candidates for the June EU election.

The decision took its coalition partners by surprise, but they have since come on board, while the opposition have been critical of the selection process.

Von der Leyen plans to start talks with the commissioner candidates in mid-August to distribute portfolios. This will be followed by hearings before European Parliament committees before the vote at the plenary, which means the new Commission could take office towards the end of the year.

Given his competence and credibility, the government is confident that Vesel will survive the vote, so it is not considering a plan B, Arčon said.

Vesel identified budget, administration, enlargement and the EU's democratic make-up as portfolios of interest to him.

Back in 2014 Slovenia's prime minister of the time, Alenka Bratušek, who now serves as minister of infrastructure, failed to get endorsed on the European Parliament Committee as a candidate for commissioner after her poor performance and complaints over the nomination process as she in fact put forward herself.

The next government then put forward as her replacement Violeta Bulc, who went on to become transport commissioner.

European commercial law expert

Vesel has most recently served as director of Eurofit, a company which owns the regional newspaper Dolenjski List, and the procurator of Salomon, a company that owns and co-owns a number of media outlets, among them Radio 1, Večer and Mladina, and is a part of the media empire run by Martin Odlazek.

Vesel holds a law degree from the University of Ljubljana and a PhD in European commercial law from the University of Maribor.

In 1997 he became a consultant for public procurement at the government's IT centre, and a year later the deputy president of the State Audit Commission, a post he held for two years.

In 2004, he was appointed first deputy president of the Court of Audit before he became the court's president in 2013, staying on until 2022.

In 2016, Vesel was also appointed the chair of the independent Audit and Compliance Committee at FIFA, the international football association.

He has also served as adviser to the Finance Ministry, the International Labour Organisation and other international projects.