A top Dutch EU civil servant is set to become a member of the new European Commission cabinet under Jean-Claude Juncker, according to the Financieele Dagblad on Tuesday.

Sandra Kramer has been included in the so-called transition team under the leadership of the German Martin Selmayr, who will be Juncker’s cabinet chief in the new Commission.

This makes it virtually certain she will be moved into the cabinet, sources in Brussels told the FD.

According to a Dutch diplomat in Brussels, there have been months of lobbying to ensure a Netherlander was appointed, the paper says.

Over the past ten years under former Commission president José Manuel Barroso, no one Dutch was appointed to the cabinet.

Foreign minister Frans Timmermans, who was appointed first vice-president and Juncker’s ‘right-hand man’ earlier this month.