Hongaarse minister van buitenlandse zaken wordt eurocommissaris (en)

The Hungarian foreign minister is to be nominated by his government to be the country's next EU commissioner.

The announcement was made by Ildiko Lendvai, the leader of the Socialist Party group in parliament, reported Hungarian news agency MTI.

Laszlo Kovacs, who also leads the governing Socialist Party, will start in Brussels on 1 November.

He will replace fellow Hungarian Peter Balazs who joined the Brussels executive on 1 May and who works on the regional policy portfolio.

The Hungarian government had previously said that Mr Balazs would be staying on in Brussels, but then changed its mind.

With this decision, Hungary has become the second new member state not to re-nominate the commissioner that started on 1 May after EU enlargement.

The other country is the Czech Republic which is now sending outgoing prime minister Vladimir Spidla, rather than Pavel Telicka, who was nominated after his country joined the EU.