(ANSA-AP) - BRUSSELS, 26 SEP - The new team set to lead the
European Union's powerful executive body was cast into doubt
Thursday after a parliamentary committee raised concerns about
possible conflicts of interest concerning two candidates for
some of the bloc's top jobs.
The legal committee, which vets candidates' financial
declarations before they are grilled by EU lawmakers, refused to
recommend that Rovana Plumb of Romania and Laszlo Trocsanyi of
Hungary be allowed to face official hearings. Plumb was in line
to become the EU's top transport official. Trocsanyi was slated
to become the commissioner in charge of the bloc's future
enlargement.
"We will have to see what happens next," European Parliament
spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot told reporters after news broke
that Plumb hadn't cleared the conflict of interest hurdle. "What
is clear is that the hearing cannot take place."
The hearing process is set to begin Monday and run for more
than two weeks. The full assembly of EU lawmakers is set to vote
on the entire European Commission, to be led by former German
defense minister Ursula von der Leyen, in Strasbourg, France on
Oct 23. The outgoing commission, headed by Jean-Claude Juncker,
ends work on Oct. 31, with the new team set to take over the
following day.
"According to the rules, if we find a conflict of interest,
we can inform the president of the commission about it. We are
going to send her a letter. The ball is in her hands," said the
legal committee's vice president, Sergey Lagodinsky. (ANSA-AP).
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