UPDATE Romanian nominee for European Commission rejected for good in EP committee / Plumb reacts by blaming opposition, calling committee decision "deeply unjust"

The JURI Committee of the European Parliament rejected the nominations of Romania and Hungary for seats in the new European Commission for good on Monday. The Committee first suspended the process of their approval in an unprecedented move last week, when, in the case of Romanian nominee Rovana Plumb, it noted suspicious details in her wealth statement.

• UPDATE Rovana Plumb’s first reaction to the JURI Committee decision on Monday was to call it „deeply unjust”, politically motivated and contrary to the procedure regulations of the EP. She also accused President Iohannis and leaders of the opposition of blocking her candidacy, along with the „aggressive negative lobby against Romania by the leader of the Renew Europe group in the EP, Dacian Ciolos”.

Also on Monday, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis summoned PM Viorica Dancila to discuss the „serious issue” of the country’s nomination for the European Commission.

Prior to the JURI announcement, Rovana Plumb announced she had cleared a debt amounting to RON800,000 to a natural person, a debt mentioned in her wealth statement and which had risen question marks among JURI MEPs about risks of her becoming entangled in a conflict of interest.

She reported that she cleared the debt with two apartments. But one had been declared to belong fully to her husband, while the other belongs to her only partially.

She said she considered the JURI Committee would find the steps she made to be a „proper solution” to the situation.

Rovana Plumb, elected MEP in the latest European elections, is a longstanding member of the Social Democrats (PSD), the political party currently led by PM Viorica Dancila. Dancila had said Plumb’s rejection last week did not make her have less trust or appreciation for her colleague.