BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Allies of Alenka Bratusek, the former Slovenian prime minister, denied she had withdrawn her candidacy to be EU vice president for energy union in the incoming European Commission.
A spokesman for the centrist ALDE group in the European Parliament, to which Bratusek belongs, said assertions by several Greens lawmakers that she had withdrawn were not true. Her fate would be decided in votes at a meeting of parliamentary committee members scheduled for 6 p.m. (05:00 p.m. BST), he added.
A spokesman for Bratusek's party in Ljubljana also denied that she had withdrawn her bid to be part of incoming President Jean-Claude Juncker's 27-strong team.
A spokeswoman for Juncker, asked about statements that Bratusek had withdrawn, said there would be an announcement shortly.
Greens, who were among many lawmakers unimpressed by Bratusek at her confirmation hearing on Monday, said she had pulled out.
Numerous parliamentary sources had said on Tuesday that that move was on the cards as Juncker tries to overcome party rivalries in parliament to get his new team approved.
(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald, editing by John Stonestreet)