Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Rumiana Jeleva's resignation letter

  • Ms Jeleva: stepped out of the race on Tuesday (Photo: © European Union, 2010)

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

I hereby ask you to accept my resignation from all the positions occupied by me, so that you can undertake the necessary measures to withdraw my nomination as Bulgaria's EU commissioner.

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After the legal departments of both the European Commission and the European Parliament came out with statements confirming the absence of any conflict of interest, as well as the veracity of the financial interest data declared by me, I can state that I consider that the harsh accusations publicly made against me during the European Parliament hearing, including accusations that I had lied, have now been refuted.

From 2007 onwards all declarations submitted by me as an MEP, as Bulgaria's EU commissioner candidate and as a tax payer, have made been public. All the details of my professional career are known. In that respect, everyone who has had an interest in this could find out all the details about me, as well as alert the competent institutions of the Republic of Bulgaria in case of any suspicion of a violation.

Considering the campaign against me, which has been going on for three months already, which has accompanied, from the very beginning, the official presentation of my nomination for Bulgaria's EU commissioner, and which has aimed at fully discrediting me, my wish has been only to refute the media claims and the direct accusations of violations of Bulgarian law and of the ethics code of the EC [European Commission].

I have submitted all the documents referring to my participation in firms or organisations, as well as to the actions I undertook to end my participation in them, with no exceptions, to the legal departments of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Bulgarian Justice Ministry, so I readily accept my exoneration.

I have to point out, with bitterness, that the discussions on the accusations against me, of lies and of conflict of interest, dominated the 12 January hearing in the development committee. The hearings in the European Parliament are, in my opinion, a profoundly democratic way of examining the candidates' preparedness. On 19 January the development committee has to gather again in order to vote on my presentation at the hearing. Having in mind the bias of a large part of the members of that committee during the hearing, the direct accusations made against me in that room and months before in the press by representatives of the groups of the Greens, the Liberals and the Socialists in the EP, as well as the biased chairmanship of the hearing by the president Ms Joly, I hereby dare to express my doubts regarding the forthcoming vote.

The claims about my incompetence were circulated months before the 12 January hearing, and, after the hearing, they rested on suggestions made through unsanctioned means such as an "unofficial statement," a "preliminary assessment," etc.

I have no hopes of an objective attitude and an objective assessment and I therefore give the Prime Minister, Mr Borisov, the opportunity to propose to Mr Barroso another Bulgarian candidate.

I thank everyone from Bulgaria who gave their voice to me in two consecutive European Parliament elections and who supported me in these difficult months and days. I express my deepest gratitude to the political family of the EPP, to the Christian Democrat parliamentary group in the EP and personally to its president Joseph Daul for their firm support of me and for their fight for justice in this concrete case.

18.01.2010

Rumiana Jeleva

The text is based on an unofficial translation by EUobserver

EU commission vote delayed as Bulgarian nominee steps down

Bulgaria has put forward a new commission nominee (pictured above), after Rumiana Jeleva stepped aside in a move that is to see the commission vote pushed back to 9 February. Ms Jeleva's resignation letter, bitter in tone, complains about a three month campaign to "fully discredit" her.

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