The Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament rejected on Monday Rovana Plumb’s candidacy as European Commissioner for Transport, sources in Brussels told AGERPRES.
There were 13 votes against Rovana Plumb’s candidacy, whereas only seven in favour.
Moreover, the Legal Affairs Committee also rejected the candidacy of Laszla Tracsanyi for the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement portfolio. There were 12 votes against and nine in favour.
Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee Lucy Nethsingha (Renew Europe group) will send a letter to President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, in which she will present the standpoint of this committee regarding candidates Rovana Plumb and Laszlo Trocsanyi.
The Legal Affairs Committee had recommended on Thursday that the validation procedure be suspended for Rovana Plumb and Commissioner-designate for Neighborhood and Enlargement Policy Laszlo Trocsanyi. As for Rovana Plumb, the JURI members thought that there was a conflict of interest due to a loan that she had contracted and the lack of clarity on how she would pay it, without compromising the office for which she was proposed.
The Legal Affairs Committee can suspend the hearings in the specialised committees of the European Parliament in case of Commissioners-designate if there are conflicts of interests after an assessment of their declaration of assets.
Rovana Plumb was designated as European Commissioner for Transport in the future European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen and her hearings in the Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committees were scheduled for 2 October, as of local time 09:00hrs (07:00 GMT).
President Iohannis invites PM Dancila to talks to designate Romania’s Commissioner
President Klaus Iohannis has sent a letter to Prime Minister Viorica Dancila inviting her to talks on Wednesday on Romania’s nomination for the position of European Commissioner.
“Pursuant to the provisions of Articles 80 and 86 of the Constitution, I am inviting you for talks on Wednesday, October 2, at 12:00hrs, at the Cotroceni Palace. The talks regard the nomination of a candidate for European Commissioner. This is an urgent matter and of special importance to Romania,” says Iohannis.
He adds that the prime minister can be accompanied at this meeting by the relevant ministers.
Last week, Rovana Plumb’s nomination by Romania for the European Commissioner for transport portfolio was rejected by the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament.
Iohannis said that the rejection represents a new major new failure of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) government, which is harming Romania, and asked Dancila to urgently withdraw the nomination and put forth a new one that is agreement with him and Parliament.
Dancila said on Saturday that Plumb, her pick for European Commissioner, still has her unconditional support.
Rovana Plumb: JURI Commission’s decision—profoundly incorrect, against EP’s Rules of Procedure
Member of the European Parliament Rovana Plumb considers that the decision of the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament in her case is profoundly incorrect, against the EP’s Rules of Procedure, “being encouraged by the opposition in Romania, headed by President Klaus Iohannis.”
“Today’s decision in the JURI committee is profoundly incorrect, against the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament and mainly political. It’s incorrect because the potential conflict of interests, had in view by the commission in the first phase of the evaluations, was completely extinguished, through my commitment to pay the credit according to the annexed letter. The committee was informed regarding this aspect, following the letter sent by me to the chair of the JURI committee, the coordinators of each political group in the JURI committee and all the members of this committee. It’s worth mentioning that extinguishing the conflict of interest was a proactive action. I considered it necessary to intervene to eliminate any doubt on the part of the JURI committee, even if they did not make recommendations, as was mandated by the regulations and even if the potential conflict of interests was, in essence, funding in agreement with the electoral laws of Romania,” Rovana Plumb mentioned, through a release sent to AGERPRES.
According to the Social Democrat MEP, the decision of the JURI committee is outside the procedure regulations, because, according to article 2, paragraph c), the JURI committee should have offered a series of recommendations to help the candidate solve any difficulties.
“Recommendations can go as far as indicating to the candidate to give up the goods or assets that would create potential conflicts of interest or to find financial solutions to extinguish a potential conflict – as it has proceeded in the case of other commissioners designated by their governments from Austria and Spain. Finally, the JURI committee can even suggest changing the portfolio. None of these steps were respected. In these conditions, it’s obvious that the decision of the JURI committee was a political one. The majority of the committee only sought to incriminate and discriminate, not to support the hearing process and offer solutions, as was mandated by the Rules. It’s clear now that the interest of the committee was not to clarify, but to block Romania’s candidacy. I will present this situation to the President of the European Parliament and the President-designate of the European Commission,” Rovana Plumb added.
In her opinion, “the incorrect attitude of the JURI committee was encouraged by the opposition from Romania, headed by President Klaus Iohannis.”
“It must be said that the incorrect attitude of the JURI committee was encouraged by the opposition in Romania, headed by President Iohannis, who announced an hour before the decision that he desires consultations on the topic of nominating a new European Commissioner. Furthermore, the aggressive negative lobby exerted by the leader of the European Parliament group Renew Europe, Dacian Ciolos, against Romania must be mentioned. The President of the JURI committee, a member of Renew Europe, simply conformed to a political line hostile to the Romanian candidacy for European commissioner. Furthermore, an important role was played by MEP Siegried Muresan, who was proposed, as others, the position of European Commissioner, if my candidacy is rejected. Unfortunately, it’s proven, once more, that the right wing political forces act even against Romania to satisfy their political and electoral interests,” Rovana Plumb claimed.
