Bulgaria’s embattled Brussels nominee bows out

Bulgaria withdrew its nominee for the European Commission on Tuesday in a move that underlined the European parliament’s power and illustrated Sofia’s faltering progress towards EU respectability.

Rumiana Jeleva, foreign minister in Bulgaria’s centre-right government, gave up her candidacy in response to relentless criticism from leftwingers, centrists and Greens in the European Union legislature that she was not good enough to serve as humanitarian aid and crisis response commissioner.

Ms Jeleva, who faced repeated questions about her competence and financial dealings, withdrew her nomination hours before a parliamentary committee was to vote on her candidacy on Tuesday afternoon.

An emotional Joseph Daul, leader of the centre-right European People’s party, said his fellow party member was “the victim of a rather contemptible political squabble” and could no longer tolerate the attacks against her integrity and her family.

“It’s because of the wounds to her honour that she’s withdrawn,” Mr Daul said.

Ms Jeleva was the first nominee to withdraw since the parliament began its interrogations of 26 would-be commissioners on January 11. The affair dramatised the parliament’s increasing influence in relation to the Commission and national governments since the EU’s Lisbon treaty came into effect last month, giving more powers to the assembly.

But it also underscored Bulgaria’s difficulties in adjusting to EU membership since it joined, along with Romania, in 2007. The Commission has often reprimanded Sofia for failing to crack down on corruption and organised crime and has withheld hundreds of millions of euros in EU funds as a result.

Some MEPs described the Jeleva affair as a setback for José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, who last Friday asserted she had the “necessary general competence” and “international experience” for the job.

But Mr Barroso’s willingness to let Ms Jeleva’s head be offered to the parliament was also a shrewd calculation that it would smooth the way for the confirmation of his new team.

The next Commission will serve for five years, and Mr Barroso is anxious that it should take office promptly to set about improving Europe’s economy, strengthening its single market and addressing climate change.

The parliament concluded its hearings on Tuesday, but some legislators want to hold second sessions with Neelie Kroes and Olli Rehn, respectively the nominees for the digital economy and for economic and monetary affairs. In these two cases, some MEPs were dissatisfied with the deliberately imprecise answers to their questions.

Ms Jeleva was replaced as Bulgaria’s nominee by Kristalina Georgieva, a former World Bank vice-president. Because she must undergo a hearing of her own, parliament appears unlikely to confirm the new Commission until February 9 – two days before the next European Council meeting.

Ms Jeleva was widely viewed as the weakest of the 26 candidates when their names were published in December. During a testy, three-hour hearing last week MEPs grilled her about the accuracy of her financial declarations, but legal reviews turned up no evidence of wrongdoing.

Rather, it was her stumbling performance and weak command of her portfolio that worked against the candidate.