A tale of three nominees

Much praise, all deserved, has been given to John Dalli's recent performance at the European Parliament's hearings for commissioners-designate. When I attended his hearing, in relation to the major portfolio of health and consumer policy, I was impressed by the way he handled the great majority of questions. I was therefore all the more surprised when a newspaper claimed his performance was average.

Compared to all the other hearings, Mr Dalli's performance was certainly one of the best. He mastered a sprawling range of policies, a great many of them a political minefield, since his questioners included politicians with sharp disagreements among themselves about the way forward.

However, Mr Dalli avoided the mines and showed his mastery of the portfolio by being able to answer questions without hardly consulting any notes as well as by compressing the complex issues in a language that was clearly his own.

If you were still wondering, that is why there was such frequent clapping, even from politicians not associated with his political family.

Should anyone want to know how badly one could go wrong, then the hearings for the first nominee from Bulgaria, Rumiana Jeleva, provide the textbook example.

Dr Jeleva's hearing went so badly that soon after her nomination was withdrawn by Bulgaria she also resigned from her post of Minister for Foreign Affairs.

She was Commissioner-designate for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. However, it had been obvious from weeks before the hearing that Dr Jeleva would be ambushed during the hearing for reasons that had nothing to do with the portfolio.

Rumours about her husband's involvement with organised crime had been rampant. Just before the hearing itself, and, indeed, during as well, printed information was circulated relating to her assets. There were charges that she had been less than transparent in her declarations, within Bulgaria, about what she owned.

Eventually, the Commission's legal department found nothing untoward with her declarations. But by then it was too late. During the hearing, she made the mistake of naming her accuser, who thereby earned the right of reply. Her address, which had started in French and continued in (halting) English, degenerated into a set of accusations and counter-accusations in Bulgarian.

By the end it was obvious that it was all over for Dr Jeleva. For, despite some things said in her defence afterwards, it was evident she had not mastered her brief very well either. She continually consulted notes, only to spout answers made up of slogans and clichés, without much content. My feelings about her botched nomination are mixed. On the one hand, I have a soft spot for her country, which I visited for the first time 27 years ago.

Sofia was an orderly and clean city, its older part a treasure of cobbled roads and preserved heritage. Its Fine Arts Museum, however, was a disappointment. Shopping in then communist Bulgaria was a non-event, although I must admit I discovered a restaurant which was completely furnished in red velvet and reserved for the "hierarchy". The steak was the best I have ever eaten. The countryside, where I visited a mediaeval monastery, was marvellous.

Bulgaria became a member of the European Union on New Year's Day 2007 and the number of the EU citizens increased by seven and a half million. Notwithstanding the fact that it had not fulfilled all the criteria, a system of monitoring post-membership was applied. With hindsight, this was a mistake. Bulgaria is continually being badgered to get its house in order, especially where the judicial system is concerned. The current wisdom in the EU is that Bulgaria is not tackling organised crime because of links to certain politicians. This was the environment which singled out Dr Jeleva as a target even before her hearing.

So I winced to see such a country, with a distinguished past and a future getting brighter, suffer the humiliation of Dr Jeleva's hearing. However, the incident also enabled me to see an old friend earn a well deserved promotion.

While the position of commissioner-designate was given to the vice-president of the World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva, the national foreign affairs portfolio, also resigned by Dr Jeleva, was given to my friend Nikolay Mladenov.

Mr Mladenov served as an MEP in 2007-2009, from the moment Bulgaria officially entered the EU. We met on the special delegation for relations with Afghanistan and we became closer when we were both selected to visit Afghanistan in April 2008.

His English is faultless. A very intelligent politician with a good insight of international politics, he was always serious. Since we spent a lot of time together, I often teased him about the consistent seriousness.

Everyone in the delegation noted his habit of beginning any address by saying, "I have two questions..." In front of President Hamid Karzai, he was about to speak when I got in first by saying, "I have two questions..." President Karzai could not see the joke but the rest of the delegation burst out laughing.

Last year, Mr Mladenov was appointed Minister of Defence when his party, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, won power. Then I congratulated him, convinced he would make an excellent minister. I have the same conviction about his new role. Indeed, I would not be surprised if we will hear more about him and that he will one day go even further in his political career.

Dr Attard Montalto is a Labour member of the European Parliament.