A new role for Polish official.

Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Poland’s EU affairs minister, is set for a new challenge. He has been elected vice-governor at the Council of Europe’s development bank (CEB), responsible for central and east European countries, Balkan countries and Georgia.

The bank, which finances social projects, has a much lower profile than other European public investment banks, with a capital base of a mere €4.9 billion (compared to €232.4bn for the European Investment Bank and €20.8bn for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). Dowgielewicz is being tipped as a future Polish European commissioner.

A stint at the CEB would bolt some economic policy experience onto his CV, potentially equipping him for one of the heavyweight European Commission portfolios when Janusz Lewandowski, the current commissioner for financial planning and budget, leaves office in 2014.