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New top EU team in doubt amid conflict of interest concerns

Committee refused to recommend Plumb and Trocsanyi

26 September, 16:04
(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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