BRUSSELS: A European Parliament committee has likely dealt a fatal blow to the bids of Hungary’s and Romania’s nominated EU commissioners by exercising its veto on Monday, dpa has learned, a move that could delay the start of the next European Commission term.
A majority of the legal affairs committee found that Hungary’s Laszlo Trocsanyi and Romania’s Rovana Plumb are not fit to take up posts under the incoming president of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, participants in the meeting told dpa.
The EU lawmakers expressed misgivings about Trocsanyi and Plumb’s suitability due to alleged financial conflicts of interest last week, but the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, had asked for further clarification.
Sassoli must now liaise with von der Leyen, who may ask Budapest and Bucharest to put forward new names for parliament to examine — a process that could push back the commission’s first day in office, set for November 1.
Trocsanyi reacted with consternation to the vote, writing on Twitter that he would seek legal action to redress the “blatant injustice” of what he sees as a “political decision.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said last week that Trocsanyi was being blocked by EU lawmakers due to his opposition to migration.
Trocsanyi and Plumb now seem likely to be barred from the next step in the nomination process, but hearings in the respective committees for the remaining 24 commissioners-designate kick off on Monday around 2:30 pm with Maros Sefcovic from Slovakia. By Thursday next week, each nominee will have three hours to answer questions from EU lawmakers and prove their professional competence.
The nomination process should be an easier ride for Sefcovic, Ireland’s Phil Hogan and Bulgaria’s Mariya Gabriel, whose hearings are scheduled for early evening on Monday.
They already served in outgoing President Jean-Claude Juncker’s commission.
Hogan is set to become trade commissioner in November when the new team takes over, while Gabriel is to take on responsibility for innovation, youth and culture.
As one of eight vice presidents, Sefcovic is expected to assume the inter-institutional relations portfolio.
A German member of the committee, Tiemo Woelken, tweeted that members had decided that Romania’s Rovana Plumb and Hungary’s Laszlo Trocsanyi are “unfit to become commissioners”.
French member Manon Aubry told journalists a vote confirmed the committee’s finding last week that the two commissioners “cannot take office because of conflicts of interest”.
The decision weakens von der Leyen’s hand as the European Parliament holds confirmation hearings for the remaining commissioner candidates, running from Monday to October 8.
Most of the rest of the team chosen by von der Leyen — who is already confirmed — are expected to get through the grilling, forming a near gender-balanced executive drawn from across the European bloc’s member states.
But the legal affairs committee pre-empted the wider parliament’s hearings by using a new power to scrutinise candidates.
Trocsanyi, meant to take charge of EU enlargement issues, was tripped up over government contracts awarded to his law firm. — AFP
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