Kristalina Georgieva, the Bulgarian commissioner for humanitarian aid, will be one of the three commissioners who will act as deputies of Catherine Ashton, the EU's recently-appointed foreign policy chief.

The two other deputies will be Štefan Füle, the Czech commissioner for enlargement, and Andris Piebalgs, his Latvian colleague responsible for development.

The Commissioners’ Group, as Georgieva, Füle and Piebalgs have been called, will assist Catherine Ashton in the cases when she has to be simultaneously present at several places, a senior EC official announced.