Valdis Dombrovskis, an ex-prime minister of Latvia and ex-MEP, has officially lodged his application to be the candidate of the centre-right European People’s Party for the presidency of the European Commission.

The period for nominations opened last Thursday, and will close on 5 March, two days before a party congress in Dublin is to vote to decide the candidate.

Dombrovskis resigned as prime minister in November after 54 people died when the roof of a supermarket in Riga collapsed. He had been prime minister since March 2009 and from 2004-09 was an MEP.

Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for the internal market and services, and Jean-Claude Juncker, ex-prime minister of Luxembourg, have both said they will seek the candidacy, but an EPP spokesman said that so far the party had only been notified about Dombrovskis’s application.

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