BRUSSELS – Nominees for the European Commissioners for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Laszlo Trócsányi (Hungary) and Transport Rovana Plumb (Romania) are unable to exercise their functions in accordance with the EU Treaties and the Code of Conduct, voted European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) today.
According to Director General for Communication and Spokesperson of the European Parliament Jaume Duch, President of the European Parliament David Sassoli will now ask the President-elect of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen how she wishes to proceed.
According to Politico, it will be up to von der Leyen to decide whether to comply with the recommendation and come up with other candidates, or whether to ignore the committee and put the two forward for their hearings in front of the relevant EP’s committees.
Two Commissioners-designates were found to be in the conflict of interest last week. Trócsányi’s law firm, founded while he served as the Minister of Justice of Hungary, sparked particular controversy.
In his statement released shortly after the decision, Trócsányi reacted harshly.
“The blatant injustice, the lack of transparency, the clear and deliberate violations of the rule of law and procedure and failure to respect the basic principles of democracy remind me of a time I thought it was over”, reads his statement.
He announced his intention to “consider seeking his right in front of the responsible court of justice”.