Barroso steunt Bulgaarse kandidaat-eurocommissaris (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso i has issued a subdued endorsement of Bulgaria's commissioner designate, Rumiana Jeleva i, adding a further twist to the political drama gripping Brussels for the past week.
The backing came after the European Parliament put Mr Barroso on the spot by formally asking whether Ms Jeleva's declaration of interests was in line with commission rules and whether the commission president still had confidence in her abilities.
The questions followed a combative hearing with MEPs on Tuesday (12 January), where Ms Jeleva was accused of not being wholly forthcoming in listing her financial interests but which also exposed gaps in her knowledge of her future job as commissioner in charge of international relations, humanitarian aid and crisis response.
In his letter - whose every word taxed the minds of commission officials for several hours on Friday (15 January) - Mr Barroso noted once again that Ms Jeleva had assured him that her declaration of financial interest was "fully accurate and complete."
The letter also reminds parliament chief Jerzy Buzek i that there is currently no "specific procedure of control" in EU i rules for assessing commissioners' statements, which are taken at face value.
On the politically more difficult issue of Ms Jeleva's competence for the job following the hearing, Mr Barroso noted that she has the "necessary general competence, international experience and shows the necessary levels of European commitment."
As a reference point for his opinion, Mr Barroso used the fact that Ms Jeleva has twice been elected "by the Bulgarian people" to be an MEP and is currently her country's foreign minister, rather than her performance in the hearing earlier this week.
The letter, written in a clipped style, puts the ball back in the parliament's court, where the development committee, which conducted her hearing, is due to give a formal assessment of her on Monday. This will follow an appraisal by the parliament's lawyers who are looking into whether Ms Jeleva's declaration of interest while she was an MEP accurately reflected her financial involvements at the time.
The commission has been keen to keep out of the affair insisting - until it received the parliament's letter on Thursday - that it would not make any statement on the matter until the parliament had made its own assessment of Ms Jeleva.
The Jeleva affair has seen a storm of recriminations in the EU assembly, with the Bulgarian candidate's political family, the centre-right EPP, rallying around her and accusing other factions of a "witchhunt."
While initially focussing on her alleged financial improprieties, her opponents in the parliament - the greens and the socialists have been the most vocal - have switched their focus to what they say is her incompetence in the portfolio and have made threats to try to derail the vote on the entire commission on 26 January if she is put forward.
The EPP, which recently appointed Ms Jeleva as one of its vice-presidents, is looking to make life difficult for a would-be commissioner from another political group and have targeted the Slovak Maros Sefcovic i, due to have his hearing on Monday.
The tit-for-tat battles have created a tense atmosphere in parliament, where each political group is trying to hang on to 'its' commissioner and has poisoned what Mr Barroso had hoped would be an uneventful seven days of hearings.
The parliament is due to finalise its assessments of all 26 commissioners next week while a vote on the entire commission is due early the following week. There are now strong doubts if the original Barroso line up will make it through unscathed.