Greens/EFA group asks Ursula von der Leyen to find new candidates for two Commissioner posts

Today, the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) has taken the decision on the conflicts of interests of the Commissioners designate. As it has been leaked to the media, the JURI Committee, did not clear the Romanian candidate Plumb and the Hungarian candidate Trócsányi of conflicts of interest, blocking them from moving on to the next stage of hearings to become European Commissioners.

Heidi Hautala MEP, Greens/EFA Member of the Legal Affairs Committee, comments:

"The fact that Commissioner candidates Plumb and Trócsányi have been blocked in the Legal Affairs Committee shows that the Parliament is taking its role seriously, despite the highly politicised nature of the process.

"The Committee has used its limited mandate well but only having one opportunity in five years to scrutinise conflicts of interest is not enough. We need a permanent independent body to investigate and propose sanctions on ethics issues. While the other Commissioner candidates have passed the assessment in the Legal Affairs Committee, the Greens/EFA group will continue to thoroughly scrutinise all those with ethics questions throughout the upcoming hearings.

"Unless these two candidates can clear their conflicts of interest then Ursula von der Leyen must ask the Hungarian and Romanian and governments to propose new candidates."

Background:

The Legal Affairs Committee's new powers were initiated by the Greens/EFA group and has seen an additional layer of scrutiny applied to potential conflicts of interests around all Commissioner-designates. Unless the two candidates can clear their conflicts of interest, then they will not proceed to the next stage of the hearings.