"Today I am standing in front of you ready to serve Europe in yet another capacity. Nine members of the party of the European socialists from across Europe, as required by our internal rules set in June, have granted me their support, and I am truly honored by this trust. It allows me to confirm that I want to be in the lead and energize our collective efforts within the social-democratic family to push forward concrete, convincing, inspiring solutions for the people of Europe," Sefcovic said at a press conference.
Sefcovic emphasized that he supported an "assertive" EU policy in strategic economic sectors.
"I stand for strong European industrial policy in strategic sectors through private-public partnerships," European Commission's Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said.
The Party of European Socialists unites 34 socialist, social democratic and labor parties from the EU member states and Norway. Its Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats is currently the second largest group in the European Parliament, with 189 seats out of 750, while the majority European People's Party group has 218 seats.
