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Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President-elect expects Romania to urgently nominate a candidate for the position of European Commissioner, said the EC spokesperson Mina Andreeva, as quoted by politico.eu.
“It’s urgent and she would expect, once there is a government in place in Romania, to send a candidate as swiftly as possible, and she is in contact with her counterparts in Romania on that front,” Andreeva stated.
The EC spokesperson added that until “the confirmatory vote [on the whole Commission] occurs, we will not know when the new Commission enters into force,”, yet the assumption remains for 1st of December.
The term of the current EC led by Jean-Claude Juncker is scheduled to end on October 31, but its mandate will be probably extended by one more month as the new Commission is incomplete due to the European Parliament’s rejection of France’s, Hungary’s and Romania’s candidates.
France proposed Thierry Breton as EU Commisisoner after their first nomination, Sylvie Goulard had been rejected by the EP.
Hungary proposed Oliver Varhelyi after Laszlo Trocsanyi had been also rejected.
Romania proposed Dan Nica after the first nomination, Rovana Plumb had been denied, but Nica has not been officially accepted yet due to the change of governments in Bucharest following the success of the censure motion against Dancila Social Democrat Government.
New proposal, new PM-Presidet row escalates
However, today the outgoing PM Viorica Dancila confirmed that her Cabinet is to submit a third EC commissioner proposal to the EC, to be sent to Brussels on Tuesday.
Asked to comment information that Victor Negrescu, former PSD Minister for EU affairs, Dancila said “Yes, Victor Negrescu is an option for the European Commissioner seat, considering his expertise: he was MEP, former minister for European Affairs”.
A journalist asked: “Dancila Gov’t is also recommending him through a letter to Brussels?”, while Dancila replied: “Dancila Government does recommend him through a letter to Brussels”.
Minister for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu, resigned the Viorica Dăncilă cabinet in November 2018, less than two months ahead of Romania taking over the rotating EU presidency.
However, Brussels would have rejected Negrescu, too, with the EC President-elect arguing his candidature does not meet the necessary criteria, meaning the proposal has not been made following an agreement between the Government and the Presidency and has not been approved by the Parliament in Bucharest.
President Klaus Iohannis has promptly retorted though, warning Viorica Dancila to stop advancing any proposals for the Commissioner seat, arguing the outgoing premier has not more legitimacy to make such a proposal.
The head of state argued that the proposal forwarded by Cabinet led by Dancila is “an irresponsible, defiant move”.
“The dismissed prime minister, Viorica Dancila has not legitimacy whatsoever to propose a candidate on Romania’s behalf for the Commissioner position.
The outgoing PM, Viorica Dancila refuses to understand that after losing the position of premier she also lost any legitimacy to advance such proposals.
I warn Mrs Dancila again to stop any action to nominate another candidate for the EC Commissioner and to not send any proposal to the EC President-elect, Mrs Ursula von der Leyen.
Nominating a European Commissioner by a government that has no more constitutional and legal powers in this respect is an irresponsible, defiant gesture against Romanian citizens and against our European partners”, President Iohannis says in a message.
The Romanian head of state underlined that only a government invested by the Parliament has the legitimacy and duty to urgently send to Brussels a Commissioner nomination, that should be “a credible and professional candidate”.
Iohannis has also slammed PSD’s attempts to delay procedure in parliament that prevent the new Executive from being voted, arguing these attempts “are hurting even more the credibility of our country, which had already been affected by Dancila Government”.
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