Kos faces new allegations of collaborating with Yugoslav secret police

European Union (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos is facing new allegations that she collaborated with the Yugoslav secret police in the 1980s, after a member of the European Parliament said she had new evidence, the Brussels-based portal Politiko reported today.

The allegations, which emerged during the Slovenian Commissioner's confirmation hearing in the European Parliament (EP) in 2024 and which Kos denied at the time, have resurfaced ahead of Slovenia's March 22 elections, with the support of European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen's party.

Slovenian MEP Romana Tomc, vice-president of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) - the largest parliamentary group in the EP - announced on Thursday that she had written to the EC claiming she had new evidence that Kos collaborated with Yugoslav intelligence and requested an investigation.

Tomc told Politiko that Kos was not being honest when she "claimed that she did not cooperate with the secret service... We have to do something with that information."

An EPP spokesperson said: "Romana Tomc has kept the EPP group fully informed about the latest revelations regarding Commissioner Marta Kos. The group will carefully consider the matter. For now, we note that Commissioner Kos has not denied these new revelations. The ball is now in her court."

Kos did not respond to Politika's requests for comment.

But an EC official said Kos "went through an extensive and thorough vetting process" to become commissioner, adding that the EP "approved Commissioner Kos's appointment in the same process as all 27 commissioners".

An official close to the commissioner's office, who was granted anonymity to speak about the sensitive allegations, told Politiko: "She (Kos) is very aware that political opponents will use these kinds of things to score political points in the Slovenian elections, but she is fully focused on her job as enlargement commissioner."

Kos will appear before the EP's Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday to discuss enlargement, and is also expected to face questions about the allegations.

At the EP in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Tomc presented a book by Slovenian author Igor Omerza with documents they said proved Kos worked for Yugoslav intelligence.

The questions the Slovenian MEP has asked the EC include whether the European Union (EU) executive intends to investigate the allegations against Kos and whether new revelations could affect the commissioner's "credibility".

"I was never an collaborator or an informant of the Yugoslav secret service," Kos told MEPs at her 2024 hearing, calling the allegations "lies" and "disinformation."

Slovenia goes to the polls later this month, pitting the ruling left-liberal coalition, to which Kos previously belonged, against the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, to which Tomc belongs. The party is currently leading in the polls.