Parliament may reject commission nominees

THE new college of EU Commissioners is in danger of being rejected by the European Parliament over questions about the suitability of two candidates.

The Socialists have said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva is not up to the job of Development Aid Commissioner, and has accused her of lying about her financial interests.

Now the Bulgarian prime minister has become involved in defence of his nominee, accusing the Socialists of being troublemakers and Communists.

Martin Schultz, the fiery head of the Socialist group, the second largest in the Parliament, has hit back at the prime minister, saying, “The former bodyguard of the former communist dictator of Bulgaria has no right to attack us in such a way.”

Even if the 40-year-old former MEP can prove she did not lie about her connection to and subsequent sale of a Bulgarian firm when she was an MEP, the number of MEPs willing to reject her was growing in the Parliament yesterday.

“It’s a question of her competence: that is the defining issue. I heard her performance described as a road-crash in slow motion. She was extremely poor,” said the Socialist spokesperson, referring to her hearing on Tuesday.

The Greens were equally unimpressed. “Her ability to do the job of humanitarian aid Commissioner remains as unclear as her business interest,” said German Green MEP Ska Keller.

The Socialists have told Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso he should seek a replacement for her from Bulgaria. The Parliament, due to vote on the new Commissioners at the end of the month, can only reject the entire college and not any individual nominees.

But the largest group in the Parliament, the European People’s Party, are supporting Jeleva, who is a vice-president of the group.

The EPP has retaliated by publishing a report on Slovakia’s nominee, Maros Sefcovic, a former ambassador to the EU and a member of the Socialist group. Nominated as Commission vice-president in charge of administration and inter-institutional relations, he is reported in an OSCE document as telling a conference in 2005 that Roma gypsies exploited his country’s welfare system.

He is due to have his hearing before the MEPs in Strasbourg on Monday.