By Joshua Chaffin in Brussels

Financial Times, updated January 14

Opposition to Rumiana Jeleva, the European Commissioner-designate for humanitarian aid and crisis response, appeared to harden on Thursday after the leader of the parliament’s Socialist group blasted her as “incompetent” and unfit to assume her portfolio.

“I have informed Commission President José Manuel Barroso that aside from serious allegations of financial impropriety against Ms Jeleva, my group considers that she is not good enough for the job. It is now for him to reflect on this matter and draw the necessary conclusions,” said Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist and Democrat group.

Mr Schulz said that Tuesday’s confirmation hearing had shown “beyond a doubt” that Ms Jeleva was “incompetent”, broadening attacks on the nominee that have until now focused on her financial affairs.

He also hit out at her political sponsor, Boyko Borisov, Bulgarian president, calling him “the former bodyguard of the former communist dictator of Bulgaria.”

Ms Jeleva, Bulgarian foreign minister, has become the focal point at the confirmation hearings for the 26 Commission nominees that have laid bare institutional and political rivalries.

Her three-hour hearing on Tuesday was the most contentious yet, with MEPs from the Socialist, Liberal and Green parties grilling her over her involvement in a consultancy that specialised in privatisation matters.

Ms Jeleva has repeatedly insisted that she has complied with Bulgarian law, and that the allegations against her were unfounded and politically motivated.

Her party, the EPP, has leapt to her defence, accusing opponents of holding “a witch hunt” and threatening to retaliate by pressing a Socialist designate, Maros Sefcovic, on discriminatory remarks he allegedly made five years ago.

The dispute has posed an awkward challenge for Mr Barroso. His office sought to distance him from the matter, telling reporters that the president would not intervene until after the hearings had run their course.

But, in addition to Mr Schulz’s letter, members of the parliament’s development committee, which hosted Ms Jeleva’s hearing, have also written to Mr Barroso.

They have asked whether he still believed that the nominee was in compliance with the Commission’s code of conduct, and whether he still believed she was acceptable as a Commissioner. The committee has requested a reply by Monday evening.

The controversy centres on Ms Jeleva’s involvement in a consulting business, Global Consult, that specialised in privatisation issues. On the CV she supplied to parliament, she listed herself as manager of the firm from 2001-2003 and 2006-2007.

But a rival Bulgarian MEP, Antonyia Parvanova, accused her during Tuesday’s hearing of not telling the truth. Ms Parvanova said that Ms Jeleva continued to run the firm through April 2009 – in apparent violation of Bulgarian law – and now retained majority ownership in a renamed version of the firm.

A defiant Ms Jeleva at one point challenged a Green Party MEP to come to Bulgaria with her to review court records. Yet she repeatedly failed to clarify her interest in Global Consult, particularly regarding when she sold her interest in the company and how much she received for it, later telling reporters that she did not remember.

Mr Schulz said that Ms Jeleva would have to face a second parliamentary hearing if she remained a Commission nominee. “But I fear that a second hearing will be worse than the first,” he added. “Her performance showed beyond doubt that she is incompetent.”

Other MEPs showed a willingness to reconsider Ms Jeleva’s qualifications. “Her performance could have been different if it had only concerned the key questions of her future duty,” said Charles Goerens, a Luxembourg MEP.

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