site.btaKristalina Georgieva Grilled by MEPs of Three Committees During Hearing as EU Commissioner-Designate

Kristalina Georgieva Grilled by MEPs of Three
Committees During Hearing as
EU Commissioner-Designate


Brussels, October 2 (BTA) - Bulgarian EU Commissioner-designate
Kristalina Georgieva took questions from MEPs of three
committees in the European Parliament on Thursday during her
hearing as nominee for the position of a Vice President in the
proposed Juncker Commission in charge of Budget and Human
Resources. In a hearing that she made very much
citizen-oriented, she said the focus should be on how euros
spent help the economies and people of the Member States. "I
take orders from no one. I work for the interest of the European
people," a confident and competent Georgieva said.

In her opening remarks and during the Q&A session, she spoke of
the extra efforts that are needed to improve controls on the
spending of EU funding by the Member States. She talked about
the negative impact of fraud and vowed zero tolerance for fraud.
"If there was a lower number than zero I would go for it," she
said. Fraud not only robs the European taxpayers but it also
harms the EU as a project, Georgieva added. She said the EU
needs a strong, independent and well-respected OLAF, and a
strong EU public prosecutor.

She said her immediate priorities will be the EU budget and its
priorities in 2016 and the preparation of the budget for the
period after 2020. She advocated a budget that promotes small
and medium enterprises and social inclusion.

She said from her first day as Commissioner, if she is
confirmed, she will start to melt down the snowball of unpaid
bills. Not doing so is self-inflicted injury and will delay
programmes, she argued. She also underscored the importance of
aligning priorities and resources to maximize the results.

Asked if she would cut on some EU agencies, Georgieva said:
"When we strive for efficiency, there are no sacred cows."

Asked how she plans to green the EU budget to fight climate
change, she said that climate change is probably "the most
important fight we must take upon".

The MEPs of the three committees at Georgieva's hearing appeared
happy with her answers. This was confirmed by some very
positive tweets by MEPs during and immediately after the
hearing.

"Mrs Georgieva has demonstrated a deep and solid knowledge of EU
budgetary dossiers," said MEP Jose Manuel Fernandes, EPP Group
spokesperson in the Budget Committee. "We are pleased with the
fact that Kristalina Georgieva has endorsed the need for a
strong budget to promote our top priorities: growth and jobs,"
he added.

Heidi Hautala of the Greens tweeted that Georgieva "will be the
best commissioner".

Coordinators of the three committees (budget, budget control and
legal) are meeting later on Thursday evening to evaluate
Georgieva's suitability. The coordinators' assessment is due to
be presented in writing to the EP President on October 9 before
the full house votes on the proposed Commission on October 22.
LN/