Agence France Presse — English
October 27, 2006 Friday 4:44 PM GMT

Furore over Romania’s nominee for EU post

Paul Harrington

Romania’s candidate for a European Commission post fell under intense
scrutiny Friday, with the EU’s executive arm failing to endorse him
amid allegations of far-right leanings and links to the Soviet-era
secret police.

Diplomatic sources in Brussels said that the Commission’s president
Jose Manuel Barroso had rejected Varujan Vosganian’s candidature,
although a spokesman refused to be drawn on the question.

"Clearly there is a problem," said one source.

Both the Romanian and the Bulgarian candidates met Thursday with
Barroso, but only Bulgaria’s European Integration Minister, Meglena
Kuneva, walked away with the president’s blessing to join his cabinet
in January.

Bulgaria and Romania are to join the EU at the beginning of the year,
and each member state is entitled to one commissioner’s post at the
EU’s executive branch.

Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said he supported liberal
senator Vosganian and dismissed doubts about his suitability as a
candidate.

"At the moment, normal procedures are under way in Brussels" to name
the next commissioner, Tariceanu told reporters in Bucharest.

Romanian President Traian Basescu also weighed into the controversy,
saying that Vosganian "does not have a dossier as an informer" to the
old Securitate secret police, despite claims by a former
Communist-era secret police official.

Vosganian himself echoed that he had "no link with the Securitate",
dismissing the furore over his nomination as "speculation".

Piling on the controversy, the Romanian daily Evenimentul Zilei
reported that Vosganian was currently a member of the extreme-right
group Rost, a charge the senator also denied.

"I have no link with the extreme right, it is an absurd accusation,"
he said.

However, Socialists at the European Parliament voiced concern about
Vosganian’s links with right-wing politics in the past as well as his
lack of EU experience.

"What is known is that he was very right-wing in politics and
financed by tycoons," said Austrian Socialist euro-deputy Hannes
Swoboda said.

According to Swoboda, the 48-year-old economist and poet set up a
party in the 1990s called the Union of Right-wing Forces that was
bankrolled by a wealthy and controversial Romanian businessman Sorin
Vantu, who owns several television stations in Bucharest.

Vosganian, who hails from the Armenian minority and speaks fluent
English and French, had until now been spared by the Romanian press,
which usually thrives on "incendiary" revelations about politicians.

European Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger was bombarded
with questions on Vosganian at a daily press briefing where he
stonewalled with the line "consultations are ongoing and while they
are ongoing the Commission won’t pronounce on details".

Asked why the Commission backed Bulgaria’s Kuneva as EU consumer
protection commissioner while remaining silent on the Romanian
candidate, he replied: "Some consultations take more time and some
consultations take less time".

After Barroso names the two new commissioners, they will face
hearings before the European Parliament, which will then vote on
their nominations at a December 11-15 plenary session.

In October 2004, Barroso’s commission got off to a bumpy start when
Italy’s candidate for commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, was forced to
withdraw due to opposition from the EU parliament over his views that
homosexuality is a sin and that women should stay home looking after
children.