BRUSSELS: Belgium finally named its next European Commissioner on Thursday, giving Jean Claude Juncker one of the last members in the new team that will run the 28-nation bloc for five years.

The choice of Marianne Thyssen, a European parliamentarian from the Flemish Christian democrats, also raised hopes of an end to a three-month wait for a national government at home in Belgium.

An increasingly irritated Juncker had set a Thursday deadline for a nomination from Belgium, where talks on forming a coalition have dragged on since elections in May, making it one of the last EU nations to name a candidate.

Thyssen fulfils one of the major criteria set by Juncker, who has called for more female commissioners and said that countries who pick women can expect better portfolios.

Juncker’s spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud told a daily briefing on Thursday that Thyssen, 58, was an “excellent choice.”