Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 27 September 2019
New top EU team in doubt amid conflict of interest concerns

By SAM PETREQUIN such instances state that
LORNE COOK “in more serious cases, if
Associated Press no solution is found to the
BRUSSELS (AP) — The new conflict of interests, and as
team set to lead the Eu- a last resort, the committee
ropean Union’s powerful responsible for legal affairs
executive body was cast may conclude that the
into doubt Thursday after Commissioner-designate is
a parliamentary commit- unable to exercise his or her
tee raised concerns about functions in accordance
possible conflicts of inter- with the Treaties and the
est concerning two can- Code of Conduct.”
didates for some of the The parliament’s presi-
bloc’s top jobs. dent would then ask the
The legal committee, new commission president
which vets candidates’ “what further steps the lat-
financial declarations be- ter intends to take.”
fore they are grilled by Speaking after her hearing,
EU lawmakers, refused to Plumb said she has always
recommend that Rovana respected the law.
Plumb of Romania and “I’m as transparent as possi-
Laszlo Trocsanyi of Hungary ble,” she said. “I have noth-
be allowed to face official ing to hide. I have a fam-
hearings. Plumb was in line Incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen adjusts her earphones Thursday, ily, a large one, and that’s
to become the EU’s top Sept. 19, 2019 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. all. I’m not a rich woman.
transport official. Trocsanyi Associated Press Therefore I need loans.”
was slated to become the European Parliament German defense minister ber countries and makes Plumb said she took out
commissioner in charge of spokesman Jaume Duch Ursula von der Leyen, in sure they’re enforced. It two loans, including one
the bloc’s future enlarge- Guillot said on Twitter that Strasbourg, France on Oct runs everything from trade worth 800,000 euros to
ment. the parliament president, 23. The outgoing commis- talks to consumer protec- build a house for her fam-
The hearing process is set Davide Sassoli, will “seek sion, headed by Jean- tion to privacy and anti- ily. She said the other had
to begin Monday and run clarifications” from the Claude Juncker, ends work trust policies, as well as su- served to finance her politi-
for more than two weeks. committee, which will re- on Oct. 31, with the new pervising national budgets cal party.
It remains unclear whether convene on Monday. team set to take over the and farm subsidies. It’s the Plumb argued she didn’t
the two candidates will be The full assembly of EU law- following day. first time that commission have to declare the loans
replaced or given another makers is set to vote on the “According to the rules, candidates have faced under the commissioners’
chance to defend them- entire European Commis- if we find a conflict of in- conflict of interest hearings. code of conduct because
selves. sion, to be led by former terest, we can inform the It will now be up to von der they were for “private pur-
president of the commis- Leyen to decide, together poses.”
sion about it. We are going with the Hungarian and Questions were raised prior
to send her a letter. The ball Romanian governments, to the hearings about a
is in her hands,” said the le- which put forward the two. possible conflict of inter-
gal committee’s vice presi- Given the secret nature of est for Trocsanyi related
dent, Sergey Lagodinsky. the legal hearings, it wasn’t to a law firm he founded
The commission, the EU’s entirely clear what the two in 1991, including whether
massive bureaucracy with might have done wrong, if he still has shares in it and,
around 33,000 staff, pro- anything. if not, to whom they were
poses laws for the 28 mem- But parliament’s rules in sold.q

Fire blazes at French chemical plant,

schools closed

No injuries have been re-
ported in the blaze, and
the cause is under investi-
gation. The Interior Minis-
try said the fire was under
control by early afternoon,
about 12 hours after it
broke out, but not yet ex-
tinguished. The Lubrizol
plant in the medieval city
A fire is pictured at a chemical plant in Rouen, Normandy,
Thursday, Sept.26, 2019. of Rouen is among the
Associated Press highest-risk industrial sites
By ANGELA CHARLTON region Thursday, prompting in Europe, part of a system
Associated Press French authorities to shut called Seveso that requires
PARIS (AP) — A huge fire down roads and schools such facilities to have ad-
at a Normandy chemical and order people to stay ditional security measures
plant spewed a mass of indoors as firefighters bat- because they handle dan-
black smoke over a wide tled for hours to contain it. gerous substances.q