Everything put on hold by one vote

“The democratic procedures we apply to the European Parliament are working”, said Jerzy Buzek, President of the Parliament, in replying to journalists who asked him about the “rejection” of the Bulgarian Commissioner-designate, Rumiana Jeleva. Buzek added: “The government of Sofia has withdrawn her candidature and proposed another name. Now the President of the Commission will have to inform us whether he intends to assign the same portfolio to the new candidate”, Kristalina Georgieva, “then we’ll proceed with the audition”. What’s happening in EU headquarters at the present time is a mini-earthquake, which in effect is hampering the work of the EU as a whole. Buzek once again emphasized that democracy works with rules that need to be respected.Situation moving. The President of the Parliament in Strasbourg described a possible calendar for the vote on the Commission, but premised that it would have to be confirmed by the conference of the heads of the various political groups and reported to the other EU institutions. “In the days ahead we will have to send a written questionnaire to Kristalina Georgieva. The audition before the competent parliamentary committee could be held on 3 February and so the vote on the entire Barroso Commission could be held in the Chamber on 9 February. So the Commission could be up and running for the summit of heads of state and of government fixed for 11 February”. “I hope everything can work without further spanners in the works”, says Jerzy Buzek. But can one expect a reshuffle of the Commission or new auditions? “It may happen – replies Buzek -. These are decisions that need to be taken in the next 24-48 hours”. So the situation is moving. The procedure for the confirmation of the Commission entails the need for the individual candidates to respond in writing to a series of questions addressed at them by MEPs; they then intervene in the auditions before the European Parliament’s vetting committee depending on the portfolios assigned to each candidate. Lastly the procedure calls for a vote during the plenary session of the EP on the whole college of Commissioners-designate: so a vote “en bloc”, and not referred to the individual candidates. To prevent the Commission as a whole being rejected by the EP, Bulgaria, in agreement with Barroso, has withdrawn Mrs Rumiana Jeleva as Commissioner-designate. Change of programme. The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, therefore “acknowledged” on 19 January the withdrawal of Jeleva’s name. It was a decision reached after days of discussions following her audition. Barroso declared that he “respected this personal decision” and announced that Bulgarian Prime Minister Borisov had proposed instead “Kristalina Georgieva, current Vice-President of the World Bank, as candidate for the Commission”. The head of the Executive has “welcomed the prompt reaction of the Bulgarian government to this situation”. Barroso also explained that “the procedure for the nomination of the new Commission will now have to continue and be concluded as soon as possible”. The final vote on the Commission, which was supposed to take place on 26 January, has therefore been called off.Georgieva takes the field. “I think that the Bulgarian candidate would have had the ability to play the role of Commissioner that was offered to her. But Mrs. Jeleva was the victim of a little, and fairly pathetic, political war”, commented Joseph Daul, head of the People’s Party at the European Parliament, the political group to which the candidate herself belongs. He defended Jeleva, who had been designated by Barroso for the portfolio of international cooperation, humanitarian aid and management of international crises. Daul pointed out that “all the accusations made against her were revealed to be false and therefore I understand her decision to withdraw”. The doubts about Jeleva had arisen after her audition at the European Parliament (which had in effect highlighted some defects in her qualification for the post), but had been especially linked to her professional activity within a consultancy firm, Global Consult (conflict of interests), and to the activities of her banker husband. Mrs. Jeleva, former Bulgarian foreign minister (a post from which she resigned) and vice-president of the EPP, has therefore renounced a possible post in Brussels and her government has appointed as her substitute Kristalina Georgieva, well known at the international level for her role in the executive of the World Bank.The competences of the candidates. The other parties represented in Strasbourg don’t share the “political” reading of Daul and tend instead to emphasize the fact that Mrs. Jeleva would not have been able to perform such an important post for the EU. “There is no war between political groups – explains for instance Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialists -. The simple fact is that Mrs. Jeleva did not show the necessary skills to manage the portfolio that Barroso wanted to assign to her. I would point out, rather, that the EPP has abandoned a procedure that we agreed on together, regarding the serious vetting of the specific competences of the candidates”.