Bulgaria announces new EU commissioner candidate

20/01/2010

Bulgaria taps a World Bank official as its new EU commissioner candidate following the withdrawal of Rumiana Jeleva.

(The Sofia Echo, Sofia News Agency, Dnevnik.bg, Mediapool, Wall Street Journal, DPA, Independent - 20/01/10; AFP, Reuters, DPA, FT, Deutsche Welle, BBC, Euobserver, EurActiv, Euronews, Sofia News Agency, The Sofia Echo, Dnevnik.bg - 19/01/10)

Rumiana Jeleva abandoned her candidacy Tuesday (January 19th). [Getty Images]

Bulgaria chose World Bank Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva as its new EU commissioner candidate on Tuesday (January 19th) after original nominee, Rumiana Jeleva, announced she was stepping aside.

"I am familiar with the area of tackling disasters and international co-operation, and I have a feeling of confidence that I can do well at the EU commissioner position," Georgieva said on Tuesday.

The changes followed a week of stinging attacks against Jeleva's personal integrity and competence. On Monday, she sent a letter to Prime Minister Boyko Borisov asking him to accept her resignation "from all the positions" she held.

A former member of the European Parliament (MEP), Jeleva was appointed foreign minister following the landslide victory of the centre-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) in the country's July 5th parliamentary elections.

Last fall, she was nominated as Bulgaria's candidate for a seat in European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso's new cabinet and was eventually named EU commissioner-designate for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Prevention. Jeleva was recently elected vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP), of which GERB is a member.

During a stormy confirmation hearing on January 12th, Jeleva was accused by socialist and liberal MEPs in the EU legislature's development committee of falsifying her declaration of financial interests. Her answers to job-specific questions also raised concerns about her qualifications for the humanitarian aid portfolio.

The EP's legal service -- asked to investigate Jeleva's ties to Global Consult Ltd., a Bulgarian consultancy firm she managed before entering politics -- cleared her of any wrongdoing Monday. Nevertheless, the row over her candidacy, which split the EU legislature along political lines, continued. Political co-ordinators of the development committee failed to reach a joint stance on the issue.

Under EU rules, MEPs have the right to hold confirmation hearings for each commissioner-designate and to reject the entire body, though not individual candidates. In 2004, the threat of a possible veto of Barroso's proposed team effectively forced the Italian and Latvian nominees, Rocco Buttiglione and Ingrida Udre, to withdraw bids.

Following Jeleva's withdrawal Tuesday, EP President Jerzy Buzek said that the vote on the new EC will be postponed from January 26th to February 9th. Georgieva's confirmation hearing has been scheduled for February 3rd, giving her four weeks less than other candidates to prepare for questions from the EP.

A scholar and economist, she joined the World Bank in 1993, initially working in environmental and then social areas.

As director for environment from 2000-2004, she led the preparation of the Bank's first environmental strategy and oversaw a portfolio of over $11 billion in environmental lending. Georgieva then served as country director for Russia until 2007, when she assumed responsibilities for strategy and operations in the Bank's Sustainable Development Network. She was appointed vice-president and corporate secretary of the World Bank Group in March 2008.

After a meeting of GERB's executive committee late Tuesday, Borisov reversed his initial rejection of Jeleva's resignation as foreign minister. He said on Wednesday that she would be replaced by incumbent Defence Minister Nikolay Mladenov, who would hand over his current duties to his deputy, General Anyu Angelov.

Borisov also announced he is establishing a third deputy prime minister position, and chose his economic adviser, Ilian Mihov, a professor at the INSEAD international business school, for the job, pending parliamentary approval.