Bulgaria’s EU Commissioner-Designate Rumiana Jeleva has complied with the European Commissioner Code of Conduct but a possible discrepancy in the information she provided as MEP might arise, according to the EP Legal Office.

The much anticipated position of the EP Legal Office on whether Jeleva has been involved in conflict of interests as her critics claimed was distributed to the media Monday night by the press service of the European People’s Party. Jeleva was severely questioned on the alleged conflict of interests issue during her EP Development Committee hearing on January 12, 2009, and the Committee decided to request the position of the Legal Office as a result.

She was said to have been simultaneously a MEP and a manager of the private firm Global Consult in 2007-2009.

The document of the EP Legal Office concludes that there is no contradictions in the financial declaration submitted by Rumiana Jeleva on December 17, 2009, as a EU Commissioner-Designate. It makes it clear that it did not have any documents indicating that on that date Jeleva had financial interests or owned assets, and that in April 2009 the firm Auto Spa OOD (the renamed Globul Consult EOOD) was owned by other individuals.

Yet, the Legal Office points out that it has no way of verifying the information submitted by Jeleva in her declaration, and that the European Commission President must be scrutinizing Jeleva's declaration.

On the issue of whether in 2007-2009, as a MEP, Jeleva violated the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, the Legal Office of the EP first notes that this is not directly related to her applying to the EC Code of Conduct.

The Legal Office points out, however, that Jeleva submitted declarations as MEP in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

In her first declaration submitted on June 14, 2007, the position of manager of Global Consult EOOD was included among her activities. In the declaration from November 12, 2007, she wrote “nothing to declare” under “professional activities”. In her declaration from January 13, 2009, which concerns 2008, “nothing to declare” is again indicated. In her declaration from July 7, 2009, nothing is indicated at all.

“The term ‘nothing to declare’ in the declarations of 12 November 2007 and 13 January 2009 may imply that Ms. Jeleva was stating that she did not carry out any professional activity on that date. Yet, this may give rise to a discrepancy with document 3 wherein Ms. Jeleva signed the relevant financial documents as manager of Global Consult EOOD on 28 February 2009. The Legal Service considers that the reason for such a discrepancy is unclear,” the position states.

It further declares that only Jeleva could provide explanations on omissions in the contents of the declarations submitted on November 12, 2007, and January 13, 2009, to the EP.

“This being said, it might not be excluded that she regarded the declarations on 12 November 2007 and 13 January 2009 merely as an “update” of the declaration of 14 June 2007 and that she considered that it was not necessary to repeat the same indication concerning her activities as manager of Global Consult EOOD,” says the Legal Service.

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