EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland's junior minister for EU affairs, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, has pulled out of the competition to become one of Catherine Ashton's top deputies.

The news was broken by Polish press agency PAP on Wednesday (13 October) citing "senior diplomatic sources."

Mr Dowgielewicz is said to have stepped aside in order to boost the chances of another Polish candidate, Maciej Popowski, to get the post of deputy secretary general in the European External Action Service (EEAS) and to concentrate on running the Polish EU presidency in late 2011.