Bulgaria's EU pick 'right for the job': MEPs

(BRUSSELS) - Bulgaria's EU commissioner designate, a second choice after the first withdrew, sailed through a parliamentary hearing Wednesday, paving the way for the whole team to assume their roles next week.

World Bank vice president Kristalina Georgieva, bidding to become the EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, elicited compliments and applause during her hearing in front of European Union parliament members in Brussels.

That was a far cry from the situation last month when Bulgarian Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva was forced to withdraw her candidature for the job and resign from her national cabinet amid allegations of incompetence and financial irregularities.

Jeleva's failure pushed back the timetable for the parliament to approve, en bloc, the 26 EU policy commissioners who will serve under commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, who is on a second five-year term at the helm of the EU's executive arm.

"Kristalina Georgieva left no doubt that she is the right woman for the job," said Dutch Green MEP Judith Sargentini, summing up the mood of the hearing.

"The only real question that remains is why Georgieva was not nominated by the Bulgarian government in the first place," she said.

Georgieva confidently fielded questions for more than three hours on a wide range of issues starting with Europe's response to the Haiti earthquake.

"It will be my immediate duty to make sure we Europeans bring to Haiti the best our union has to offer," she told the MPs.

The 56-year-old trained economist admitted she still had some reading up to do on the issues but promised to become "the voice of the voiceless" within the European Commission.

She also backed the concept of a European civil protection force, an idea which does not have unanimous backing among EU nations.

In Sofia, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov congratulated Georgieva without waiting for the parliament's formal approval.

"I am convinced that after your approval as a member of the European Commission you will be contributing successfully for expanding EU's role in international cooperation, humanitarian aid, and crisis response," he said.

Georgieva was the last of the 26 commissioner designates -- picked by European capitals -- to be quizzed by the parliament.

Her apparent success means a plenary vote on the whole college of commissioners will take place on February 9, allowing the new team to take up their posts next Wednesday, as long as the parliament endorses them.

Their introduction has been delayed for three months due to various hitches.

Hearing of Kristalina Georgieva - Co-operation, Aid and Crisis Response - European Parliament