Jean-Claude Juncker

Kristalina Georgieva, outgoing EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, is likely to be appointed Budget Commissioner in the next EC panel, according to sources close to the matter.

Citing Bulgarian sources speaking on condition of anonymity, news portal Euractiv suggests that Georgieva will be awarded the budget portfolio.

Ponta on Saturday refused to publicly announce the name of the female politician he is putting forward for an EU commissioner post, but media reports speculated that it could be Corina Cretu, the current vice-president of the European parliament.

The news came as a surprise because Bucharest last month nominated Ciolos for a second term as commissioner.

Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini was appointed on Saturday as the European Union’s new foreign policy chief.

European leaders also chose Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as the new President of the European Council, the current President Herman Van Rompuy announced in tweets at the EU summit in Brussels.

After a flurry of meetings and telephone calls with European officials, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is set to meet with incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at a European Union leaders' summit in Brussels on Saturday where he is expected to emphasize Greece’s progress in reforms ahead of next week's crucial negotiations with the troika in Paris.

With just a few days to go before crucial talks in Paris with the troika, Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis launched a series of meetings with key cabinet colleagues on Friday in a bid to hammer out the details of the Greek delegation's negotiating positions.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been engaged in a flurry of diplomacy, Kathimerini understands, ahead of a crucial European Union leaders summit in Brussels Saturday as well as next week’s talks in Paris between Greek government officials and troika representatives.

Bulgaria’s caretaker PM Georgi Bliznashki has called for broad non-partisan support for the nomination of Kristalina Georgieva as the new EU’s foreign policy chief.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (pictured at the UN with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras last August) has lent his support to the second Athens Forum 2014, titled “Democracy Under Pressure,” which is being co-hosted by Kathimerini and the International New York Times.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will meet the EU Commission’s incoming president, Jean-Claude Juncker, in Luxembourg on Wednesday, an ECB spokesman said on Tuesday.

The spokesman did not reveal what was on the agenda for the meeting, which will take place a day before the eurozone central bank’s governors gather for their regular monthly policy meeting in Frankfurt.

After days of disputes between Romanian leaders over the right to name the country’s future EU Commissioner, Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Friday announced that Dacian Ciolos, the current EU Commissioner for Agriculture, is the preferred option for the post.