Valdis Dombrovskis becomes European Commissioner for Trade

EU. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, appointed Valdis Dombrovskis as Trade Commissioner to replace Phil Hogan on Tuesday 8 September 2020. The latter had been forced to resign on 26 August 2020 after breaching anti-coronavirus restrictions in his home country Ireland by failing to comply with a dozen following his return from Belgium. This is the first reshuffle since the German Ursula von der Leyen took office in December 2019.

Valdis Dombrovskis (EPP-right), forty-nine years old and former Latvian Prime Minister (March 2009 to January 2014), takes responsibility for the European Union's trade policy on behalf of the twenty-seven Member States. In particular, he will have to work on its reform.

He remains executive vice-president of the European Commission. As each EU country has a post, he is replaced as Commissioner for "financial services" - a position he has held since July 2016 under the Jean-Claude Juncker mandate - by Ireland's Mairead McGuinness (61 - EPP-right), currently vice-president (EPP-right) of the European Parliament.

The MEPs have yet to give their approval on these two nominations to become effective.