European Parliament Committees Reject Commission Candidates
Some of the candidates for European Commissioner have been rejected by EP's specialized committees
Leyla Cheamil, 03.10.2019, 13:50
The incoming president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is trying to form her team of commissioners, but the job seems more complicated than anticipated. In Brussels, the Polish and Swedish candidates, Janusz Wojckiechowski, proposed for Agriculture, and Ylva Johansson, proposed for Internal Affairs respectively, have been rejected after they were heard by Parliaments specialized committees. The MEPs from the agriculture and internal affairs committees will submit further questions for the two candidates, who could be heard by the committees once again.
The Romanian MEPs too have complained about the two nominees. The Social Democrat Carmen Avram has stressed the fact that agriculture must be headed by a competent person:
“For us, as Romanians, the vision of the new commissioner for agriculture was extremely important, but we heard nothing about that. That is why I agree that this candidate be heard again, because this is extremely important to Romania.”
In turn, the MEP Sigfried Muresan, a member of the European Peoples Party group, has too voiced disappointment with the Polish candidate:
“To farmers in Romania and for a robust common agricultural policy, a strong commissioner is an absolute necessity, and the candidate we saw yesterday was by no means prepared to manage this extremely important portfolio.”
Also, Frances nominee for the EUs internal market, Sylvie Goulard, who is facing an inquiry by the European Anti-Fraud Office, failed to convince the European Peoples Party group, who requested additional clarification, in particular with respect to an alleged fictitious employment of one of her collaborators.
Another two candidates had been rejected before: Romanias Rovana Plumb and Hungarys Laszlo Trocsanyi, proposed for transport and neighborhood and enlargement respectively. The two were rejected because of some conflicts of interests.
The Romanian MEP Dan Nica, a former minister of communications, is the new proposal set forth by the Social Democratic Party to replace Rovana Plumb. The party also has a backup proposal, in case the European Commission wants a woman for this particular portfolio, namely Gabriela Ciot, who is currently a State Secretary with the Foreign Ministry.
