He doesn't even live in the EU, he is a consultant at a lobby company, he was reported to the secret police of the former Yugoslavia, and he allegedly behaved aggressively with his subordinates. And he replaces Oliver Várhelyi...
After Hungary, Slovenia can provide the EU's new enlargement commissioner for the next five years. At the same time, the history of the liberal candidate is full of scandals, the international press questioned his suitability due to several cases. However, the globalist majority of the European Parliament will probably not be bothered by this. According to the information circulating in the European Parliament and in the press, Marta Kos has been living outside the European Union since 2017 and also pays taxes in Switzerland.
The Slovenian Nova24 news portal writes that Kos, who declared assets of around one million euros in savings accounts, worked as a senior consultant at the Brussels-based lobbying firm Kreab and had his own consulting firm registered in Switzerland.
Kreab represents the interests of large global companies such as Amazon, BP, Google or various banks and chemical companies.
The Brussels-based news portal Politico also points out that although Kos said he does not consider himself a lobbyist, he reported that European football's governing body,
UEFA was one of its clients,
which in 2021 fulfilled "advocacy" missions at the level of the UN and its most important bodies.
By the way, Kreab also denies that Kos was their lobbyist, but they refused to reveal exactly which large companies he worked as a consultant for in recent years. It is also confusing how much the commissioner-designate worked for them. According to Kreab, Kos has been working for them since 2023, however, according to the archived version of their website, he appeared as an employee on their site as early as 2022.
By the way, lobbying is a well-established thing in the EU, there would be no problem with it if the left-liberal commissioner candidate had registered in the EU's transparency register, but he did not do this, as he denies that he is a lobbyist.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the commissioners are known to have a requirement that they must represent pan-European interests.
Politico also drew attention to the fact that Marta Kos' husband is the Swiss Henri Getaz, the former secretary general of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
Swissinfo presented him with noble simplicity as Switzerland's most important trade negotiator. In this capacity, however, his interests may conflict with those of the European Commission, of which his wife will be a member. EFTA represents the perspectives of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
According to Getaz's own admission, he is a "diplocrat", i.e. a technocrat of diplomacy, who was otherwise responsible for European affairs at the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs for eight years.
The Slovenian Commissioner-designate was also accused of other serious things. Several Slovenian media reported that in 2020, Kos had to leave his position as Slovenian ambassador because he humiliated his colleagues at work.
Previously, he served as ambassador in Berlin and then in Bern, and according to the news, he shouted, humiliated his colleagues and played them against each other in both stations.
Marta Kos denied the accusations, but the reports on the case have not been made public since then, and the pro-migrant Slovenian foreign minister, Tanja Fajon, does not comment on the case.
It is interesting that in 2022 he was the candidate of Kos's party for the post of head of state, but he withdrew shortly before the election, citing changed circumstances. The commissioner-designate also resigned from the position of vice-president of the ruling liberal party not long after.
Incidentally, in Slovenian politics, Marta Kost was also accused of being an agent.
According to this, at a young age, as a university student, he could have been in contact with the Yugoslav secret services, the UDBA.
Although the commissioner-designate denied the accusations, case file number 0014000-05448 was found in the archives with the name Kos, but with an empty file. It is well known in the country that thousands of such documents were destroyed in April 1990.
Can you imagine that someone in Germany, for example, would run a candidate who used to be an employee of the Stasi? Romana Tomc, member of the European Parliament of the right-wing Slovenian SDS, asked Euronews about the case. "This is a red line for us," he added.
However, as the specialist portal Balk.hu noted in connection with the case, according to Croatian historian Hrvoje Klasić, who spoke to Euronews, the working method of the UDBA makes it very difficult to determine who was an actual agent and who was an ordinary citizen who might have been involved in a benign and innocent case. were interviewed. It is certain, however, that in addition to his home country, Kos also passed the screenings in Latvia, Switzerland and Germany.
The hearings for the next European Commission commissioner candidates will take place next week.
Cover image source: www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu
