Socialists question competence of Lithuanian nominee

BRUSSELS - The Socialist group in the European Parliament on Tuesday (12 January) took aim at Lithuania's commissioner designate, raising "serious doubts" about his ability to deal with the tax and anti-fraud portfolio.

"The overwhelming impression was disappointment which leads us to question his suitability to be nominated for this important commission portfolio," Hannes Swoboda, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group's vice-president in charge of the commissioners hearings said in a press release.

During the three-hour grilling, MEPs from all political groups pressed the Lithuanian nominee on issues ranging from tackling counterfeits goods to tax havens and the independence of EU's anti-fraud office, Olaf.

Mr Semeta already passed parliamentary hearings last year when he replaced Dalia Grybauskaite as budget commissioner, after she left Brussels to run for president in Lithuania.

A former finance minister and an economist-mathematician by training, Mr Semeta was not expected to be a weak candidate for the portfolio combining two existing files – taxation and anti-fraud.

"Mr Semeta failed to provide detail on how he will reform the EU fraud squad, Olaf, and he also failed to explain how to improve management of EU funds by the EU and its member states. He was inadequate too, on the code of conduct for commissioners," Socialist spokesman on budgetary control Jens Geier said.

Even MEPs from his own political family, the centre-right European People's Party, questioned Mr Semeta's suitability.

"The future commissioner for taxation, customs union and fight against fraud left several questions open and proved he is still insecure in his field," EPP vice-president Othmar Karas, an Austrian MEP said in a statement.

His colleague from Luxembourg, Astrid Lulling, went further: "The commissioner-designate has an awful lot of homework to do. What he has said today has not made a lot of sense."

The group is still likely to back Mr Semeta for political reasons, while the Socialists are delaying a "final decision" until next week in Strasbourg, when the last four hearings on commissioner nominees are taking place.

Meanwhile, the Liberals are questioning the way EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has instructed the candidates to present themselves. They are allegedly supposed to "give just technical answers, but without any political promises," German Liberal MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis told the Sueddeutsche newspaper.

The Bulgarian candidate, Rumiana Jeleva, also a nominee from the centre-right EPP family of Mr Barroso, similarly failed to convince MEPs during her hearing and clashed with them over her financial disclosures.

Parliamentary committees are supposed to draft recommendations on each candidate after their respective hearings. In Mr Semeta and Ms Jeleva's cases, the reports are likely to be delayed for a few days, pending legal clarifications for the Bulgarian and political negotiations for the Lithuanian.

In 2004, the Parliament asked for the replacement of two commissioners – the Italian and the Latvian candidates – and the replacement of one portfolio for the Hungarian candidate who failed to convince MEPs during his hearing on energy issues.