The new president of the European Commission has sent a letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson requesting that he nominate a new British candidate for the EU Commission as soon as possible. President Ursula von der Leyen suggests that Johnson could nominate a female candidate.
Now that the British have requested a three-month delay for their planned departure from the EU, the United Kingdom will in any case still be a member of the EU on December 1 and January 1. In that case, the EU 'constitution' requires that the British have British politicians in the European Parliament, as well as a British Commissioner in the daily EU administration.
Von der Leyen has made the request to nominate a British candidate before as well, to the previous prime minister, Theresa May. At that time, it still appeared that the United Kingdom might leave the EU before November 1.
After the European elections in May, it was already decided that the British Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg would temporarily retain their seats pending a decision on Brexit. But no decision has yet been made about EU Commissioner Julian King.
The new European Commission under Von der Leyen is scheduled to take office on December 1. That is a month later than initially planned. By then, the European Parliament must hold hearings with the three remaining commissioners, the French, the Hungarian, and the Romanian, by the end of this month at the latest. It is not expected that there will be clarity about a new British commissioner by that time.
Prime Minister Johnson has already made clear that he does not intend to nominate a new British commissioner. Instead, Johnson said he wants to start repatriating British officials from Brussels. It is not yet clear how the EU will respond if London refuses to nominate a successor for Julian King.
In theory, EU Commission President Von der Leyen can keep the current British commissioner in place for a few more months, as the British might still leave the EU through Brexit in February. But that will also depend on the outcome of the parliamentary elections to be held in mid-December in the United Kingdom. If those elections are not decisively won by the Conservatives, it is not inconceivable that the British Brexit departure will have to be postponed again.