Social-Democrat Rovana Plumb,
\nminister in several PSD-controlled governments and a leading figure of the
\nSocial-Democratic Party (PSD) has been contested by the right-wing opposition
\nas early as her nomination as future European Commissioner from Romania. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The reason invoked was her lack of
\nintegrity and competence. Mrs. Plumb could not prove her competence in the
\nfield of Transport, she was supposed to take over, because she failed the
\nintegrity test during the interview with the Legal Affairs Committee of the
\nEuropean Parliament. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Committee has briefed the
\nExecutive over an existing conflict of interest as far as the Romanian
\nappointee is concerned. The same happened to the Fidesz candidate of Hungary.
\nThe unprecedented move is a fair one as the Committee’s spokesperson has
\npointed out, because under the European treaties, the appointee to the position
\nof Commissioner must be beyond reproach, independent and committed to the
\nEuropean general interest. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to Rovana Plumb,
\ndifferent stipulations created discrepancies between the assets and wealth
\ndeclaration submitted to Brussels and the one in Romania. The explanation
\nprovided by the Committee is superfluous. The presidency and opposition in
\nBucharest have reacted immediately. The rejection of Rovana Plumb’s candidacy
\nby the Legal Affairs Committee represents another major failure of the PSD
\nruling, which exports incompetence through repeated political moves that are
\ndeeply affecting Romania’s image, the country’s president Klaus Iohannis has
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Iohannis has called on Prime
\nMinister Viorica Dancila to urgently withdraw Mrs. Plumb’s candidacy and
\nappoint a new person only after they have been endorsed by the Romanian
\npresident and by Parliament. The opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) has
\nadopted the same stand, while the USR believes that Romania’s reputation is at
\nstake and called on the Romanian president to get involved and endorse a new
\nappointee. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Anticipating that the present
\nExecutive is not going to survive the imminent no-confidence vote, PMP believes
\nthat Romania’s proposal for the future European Commissioner must come from the
\nfuture cabinet. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) believes
\nthat Rovana Plumb must take a step back, while Romania should produce a
\ncandidate with integrity, who is going to understand what is actually going on
\nin the European Union and get political support for the position of European
\nCommissioner. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Currently under intense criticism,
\nthe ruling PSD says that not all the steps for Rovana Plumb’s confirmation have
\nbeen taken and that the party also has backup alternatives if need be. What the
\nSocial Democrats will not find that easily is an answer to the pundits’
\nquestion: how come that the Social-Democratic government who has so vehemently
\nopposed the candidacy of Romania’s chief prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi as
\nhead of the new European Public Prosecutor’s Office, over alleged legal issues,
\nproposed for the position of European Commissioner and even called for national
\nsupport in this case, a candidate facing integrity issues? <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEPs have rejected Romania’s candidate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":79427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[32573,38707,35076,29035,32141],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-83090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-plumb","tag-pmp","tag-rovana","tag-udmr","tag-usr"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n