Before she can formally become an EU commissioner, European lawmaker Adina Valean has been invited to a hearing on Nov. 14 to assess her suitability for the job of European transport commissioner.
Incoming European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen accepted her nomination this week after she was proposed by Liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, together with another European lawmaker Siegfried Muresan.
Valean, 51, is one of the most experienced Romanian members of the European Parliament, first taking a seat in 2007 when Romania joined the EU.
Viorica Dancila, the ex- prime minister, put forward her ally Rovana Plumb, but the nomination was rejected over integrity issues. Two other candidates were also turned down.
Dancila wished Valean “good luck” on Friday and said she was a good European lawmaker. The two were colleagues at the parliament for nine years.
Romania was the only member state not to have had a commissioner confirmed apart from Britain whose EU membership is in limbo. As result, the commission was unable to assume office on November 1 as scheduled and is likely to begin work on December 1, following a confirmatory vote in the European Parliament.
Before the commissioners-designate can take office, Parliament holds public hearings to assess their suitability for the job to examine whether their skills and qualifications match the posts proposed for them.
Each candidate is invited to a three-hour hearing, streamed live, in front of the parliamentary committee or committees responsible for the portfolio they have been assigned.
Following the hearing, the responsible committees prepare their evaluation of the candidate’s competence, which is then finalized by the Conference of Presidents, made up of the leaders of the political groups and the Parliament’s president.
