European Comission President Jean-Claude Junker on Wednesday announced that Socialist MEP Romania’s Corina Cretu would be European Commissioner for Regional Politics in the new Commission.

Cretu will manage a total budget of about 350 billion euro for the period 2014-2020, which makes this portfolio one of the most important in the structure of the Commission.

“I’m honored to have been nominated for this position and also to have been supported for this by Romania’s government,” Cretu said on her Facebook page.

“Regional Development is the most important investment policy in Europe and I am very happy that Romania got such an important portfolio, once again demonstrating the trust that our country benefits from in Brussels,” Cretu added.

Cretu, 47, was vice-president of the European parliament and is a veteran Romanian politician.

She made headlines last year when the email account of former US Secretary of State Colin Powell was hacked and a series of private emails between him and Cretu were published.

Powell denied allegations that he had an affair with Cretu, saying that he had always been faithful to his wife of 50 years.

In one email, dated November 14, 2011, Cretu wrote: “I have loved you too much, too many years. YOU were my greatest love of my life…’. In another, she urges Powell: “Sip a glass of wine with me, as you used to tell me – advising me to lie neck [naked] on tha sofa.”

Her nomination by Romania for a portfolio in the new Commission came as a surprise and stirred another dispute between Prime Minister Victor Ponta and President Traian Basescu.

Ponta first announced that he would support former commissioner Dacian Ciolos for a new mandate as Agriculture Commissioner, which was also agreed by President Basescu. But then it emerged that Ponta had sent two nominations to President Junker.

Analysts suggested that Ponta added another candidate for the EU post because the European Parliament was threatening to veto the new EU Commission if fewer than nine of its members are female.

If confirmed in a European Parliament vote in October, the European Commission will take office on 1 November 2014.