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The Social Democrat MEP Dan Nica is the new proposal forwarded by Dancila Government for the position of EU Transport Commissioner, after the EP’s legal committee had rejected Rovana Plumb. The Executive Committee of the ruling Social Democrat Party has unanimously voted Dan Nica, who has been personally proposed by PM Viorica Dancila.
The CEx meeting has been interrupted however on Tuesday afternoon so that PM Dancila can have a phone talk with Ursula von der Leyen. Dancila told the EC President-elect the party’s decision to nominate Dan Nica, but von der Leyen was not pleased with him, so the Romanian premier came back with a third proposal, Gabriela Ciot, secretary of state within the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Sources from PSD told Digi24 that Ursula von der Leyen had asked Viorica Dancila to send a woman for the Transport Commissioner office.
Among the proposals debated within the PSD meeting there was also Victor Negrescu, who would have been credited with high chances of endorsement in Brussels for this position, but this option has not been put to the vote eventually.
Last year, Victor Negrescu resigned from the office of European Funds minister, less than two months ahead of Romania taking over the rotating EU presidency.
As for Dan Nica, he has been initially in the cards for the EU Commissioner seat, being on the list sent by PM Dancila to Brussels a month ago, next to Rovana Plumb. However, President Iohannis had warned the premier since then that both proposals, Nica and Plumb, were bad decisions that are to be rejected, due to the two ex-ministers’ legal and integrity issues.
Dan Nica, former minister of Communications during 2000-2004, was charged by the anti-corruption prosecutors in the high-sounding Microsoft file, being accused of abuse of office if the public servant obtained an undue benefit for himself or for others.
Ursula von der Leyen has asked Hungary and Romania on Tuesday to present new nominees for the next European Commission after their original candidates were rejected by the European Parliament, after the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted on Monday to confirm its rejection of Romania’s Rovana Plumb and Hungary’s László Trócsányi on the grounds they are suspected of conflict of interest, Politico.eu reported.
The Hungarian government announced late on Monday that it has nominated career diplomat Olivér Várhelyi as its next commissioner after the European Parliament rejected the country’s first candidate, current MEP and former Justice Minister László Trócsányi.
Who is Melania-Gabriela Ciot?
According to MAE website, Melania-Gabriela Ciot was appointed Secretary of State for European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 20 September 2017.
She is a PhD Associate Professor at the Faculty of European Studies of the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, and since 2015 she can supervise doctoral thesis in International Relations and European Studies field of studies.
At the Faculty of European Studies she is the Director of the Doctoral School “European Paradigm” (International Relations and European Studies) and coordinates Master’s Programs in International and European Management and Negotiation, and Cultural Diplomacy and International Relations.
She is also the coordinator of the Centre for International and European Negotiations, at the Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, and of the Cultural Diplomacy Section (ICD Berlin, Cluj-Napoca Branch).
She obtained a Doctorate in International Relations and European Studies (2012, Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca) with the honor “Summa cum laudae” and a Doctorate in Education Sciences (2009, Universiteit Ghent, Belgium).
Mrs. Melania-Gabriela Ciot has an intensive editorial and research activity, reflected in the publication of 10 books, as sole author, 3 books as coordinator, and more than 30 chapters published by prestigious national and international publishing houses. She has also published over 50 articles in major research journals, indexed in international databases.
She has participated in numerous national and international scientific conferences and in projects with external or national funding as a manager, coordinator or member of the research teams.
Her main themes of interest are: European affairs, international and European negotiations, decision-making process in foreign and international politics, decision-making strategies, idiosyncrasies in the foreign policy decision-making process.
Between May 2014 and November 2015, she held the position of European Affairs Adviser in the Cabinet of Ministers for Information Society, European Funds and Public Finance.
Since 2004, she has joined the social democrats’ efforts to modernize and develop Romania in order to join and integrate it into the European Union and NATO.
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