Maroš Šefčovič, has been appointed to replace Ján Figel' as new European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth. Jan Figel stepped down following his recent election as chairman of the Slovak opposition party, the Christian Democratic Movement.
On 1 October, Šefčovič will take over from Figel' for the rest of the lifetime of the current Commission. It is expected that he will be nominated as Slovakia's commissioner in the next administration, which José Manuel Barroso, is currently putting together. But it is not certain whether Slovakia will still be in charge of the culture and education portfolio.
Maroš Šefčovič was born in Bratislava on 24 July 1966. Since 2004 he has been the Slovak Ambassador to the EU. As director-general for European affairs in the Slovak foreign ministry in the year before Slovakia's admission to the EU, he was preparing Slovakia’s accession to the EU and responsible for finalising Slovakia's readiness to join the European Union.