Denmark has nominated Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, who is playing a leading role in U.N. climate talks, to join the European Commission, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.

"The nomination takes place according to an agreement with Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

Hedegaard, aged 49, has played a central role in the run-up to the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18 and has emerged among Danish pundits as a front-runner to become the European Union's first climate commissioner.

Hedegaard will step down as climate and energy minister, but she will simultaneously be appointed minister for the U.N. climate conference, the prime minister's office said.

EU member states make nominations for Commission posts, but it is up to the Commission to allocate portfolios.

The Commission currently has portfolios for the environment and energy, but intends to create a specific portfolio for climate affairs. So, if she were chosen, Hedegaard would become Europe's first climate commissioner.

A member of the Danish Conservative Party, Hedegaard was the youngest member of parliament when she was elected in 1984.

She left for a career in journalism in the 1990s, including a stint as a TV news presenter, before returning to politics, becoming environment minister in 2004 and Denmark's first climate minister in 2007.

The government appointed Lykke Friis to replace Hedegaard as climate and energy minister.