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At 2.30 pm on Monday, the Constitutional Affairs and Legal Affairs Committees of the European Parliament will submit to the late morning of their questions the Slovakian Maroš Šefčovič, outgoing European Commissioner and candidate for the portfolio of Vice-President in charge of interinstitutional relations. As the hearing of this member of the European Commission for ten years seems unheard, as the six days of hearings that open on Monday promise not to be a long quiet river.
With our office in Brussels
Of the 26 candidate commissioners presented by the future president Ursula von der Leyen, two are currently in a total blur. Hungarian Laszlo Trócsányi and Romanian Rovana Plumb. Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee summoned them on Thursday because of suspected conflicts of interest.
As a result of this pre-hearing, the committee decided to pause the process for these two candidates. Their hearings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday are therefore suspended.
As much as the temporary rejection of Laszlo Trócsányi looks like a mere political attack on the Hungarian government by the Parliament, the candidacy of Rovana Plumb could well be withdrawn by Ursula von der Leyen not to threaten the team as a whole.
For now, it seems that the only other candidate who could be in the hot seat is the Frenchwoman Sylvie Goulard on Wednesday. The clouds that piled up on the heads of two other candidates have since dissipated since Friday.
The European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, has indeed decided to terminate without sanctions its investigation into the travel expenses of the Polish candidate Janusz Wojciechowski. For its part, the Belgian justice has dismissed the complaint for corruption that was aimed at Didier Reynders.