Bulgarian Withdraws EU Candidacy Amid Pressure

Bulgarian Withdraws EU Candidacy Amid Pressure The European Union's commissioner-designate for humanitarian aid, Rumiana Jeleva, resigned Tuesday amid pressure from the European Parliament over business dealings in her native Bulgaria and her husband's alleged ties to organized crime.

Mrs. Jeleva's surrender will delay final confirmation of the new 27-member European commission, the bloc's executive body, and is also a blow to her biggest supporter, commisson President José Manuel Barroso.

The commission had been slated to begin its five-year term on Jan. 26. The Parliament will need time organized an additional hearing. At a press conference Tuesday, European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek said he hoped the final vote would happen on Feb. 9.

Bulgaria hurriedly appointed a replacement, World Bank Vice President Kristalina Georgieva.

"This is a big deal," says Fredrik Erixon, an analyst with the Brussels-based European Centre for International Politics and Economy. "The day Barroso launched the group of nominated commissioners, he said this is the best team to meet the challenges of the European Union."

In a statement, Mr. Barroso said he "fully respects this personal decision."

Mrs. Jeleva, 40, had been under the microscope since she was picked for the job back in November. Almost all politicians from Bulgaria, the EU's newest and poorest member, come to Brussels, the bloc's capital, under suspicion because of their country's reputation for organized crime and corruption.

As a former businesswoman, Mrs. Jeleva aroused special interest. She had managed a Global Consult Ltd., ATM Partsa consultancy that helps the government privatize former state-run firms. Her husband, Krasimir Jelev, worked for a bank with suspected ties to organized crime. An article in the German magazine Die Welt described Mrs. Jeleva as a "gangster bride," a damaging blow to her reputation.

At her hearing last week, members of the Parliament's development committee gave Mrs. Jeleva a thorough grilling on her personal past. Mrs. Jeleva defended herself, pointing out that as a member of the European Parliament herself, and Bulgarian foreign minister, she had already passed plenty of background checks. She challenged committee members to "come to Bulgaria and see for yourselves."

Mr. Barroso came out with a strong show of support, challenging parliamentarians in a letter to substantiate their allegations. None were able to. Mrs. Jeleva complained of a malicious campaign against her.

Either way, the pressure was too much. Mrs. Jeleva gave up her commission spot; she will remain Bulgaria's foreign minister. She didn't make a formal statement on Tuesday. The Bulgarian government made the announcement.

Her replacement, Mrs. Georgieva, is a respected international academic and economist who has worked at the World Bank since 1993. Bank president Robert Zoellick appointed her as vice president in 2008. As an academic, she is unlikely to stoke controversy, say analysts.

Brussels politics played a role in Mrs. Jeleva's demise. The Parliament is the weakest of the EU institutions in Brussels. Confirming commissioners is one chance it has to flex its muscles. In 2004, it forced Italian commissioner Rocco Buttiglione to quit after he called homosexuality a sin.

The hearings continue this week. Mrs. Jeleva is a conservative, and that will shield other conservative nominees, such as controversial former EU antitrust chief Neelie Kroe, from Mrs. Jeleva's fate. It could also prompt conservatives in the Parliament to go after a socialist like Hungary's Laszlo Andor. In the 1990s,ATM Parts he edited a left-wing magazine which sometimes defended Marxist beliefs.