Roumyana Zheleva, currently Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister and candidate European Commissioner for international co-operation, humanitarian aid and emergency response, will face three hours of questions by a committee of the European Parliament at a confirmation hearing on January 12 2010.
 
In some quarters, reception to the announcement of Zheleva as a candidate commissioner and to the portfolio for which she has been nominated has been critical.
 
Critics in Bulgaria derided her portfolio as meaningless and subordinate to other commissioners, while international media listed Bulgaria as among the "losers" in getting a lightweight portfolio, a sign of the lack of confidence that major EU players have in the country, which joined the bloc in January 2007.
 
Zheleva (40), a graduate in sociology and a former MEP for Bulgaria’s current ruling party, Boiko Borissov’s GERB (the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) also has been the focus of controversy for being elected to the vice-presidency of the centre-right European People’s Party bloc in the European Parliament, a move some see as incompatible with being a commissioner, while Green co-leaders Daniel Cohn-Bendit is following up allegations about a supposed conflict-of-interest involving Zheleva’s husband.
 
The European Parliament must approve or reject a proposed European Commission as a package. If they are not persuaded of the worth of a candidate, the only way to block that candidate is to decline to approve the commission as a whole.
 
According to a statement by the European Parliament, the evaluation criteria for commissioners-designate is "on the basis of their general competence, European commitment and personal independence".
 
"It also assesses their knowledge of the prospective portfolio and their communication skills. Parliament takes particular account of the need for gender balance. It may express views on the allocation of portfolios proposed by the President-elect," the European Parliament said.
 
The first step in the approval procedure is that the European Parliament receives commissioners-designate curriculum vitae and their declarations of financial interests.
 
The European Parliament then puts to the commissioners-designate a series of written questions dealing mainly with the candidates’ policy priorities in their respective fields of responsibility.
 
The candidates’ written replies provide the basis for the oral stage – the hearings, which in the case of Zheleva will be from 4.30pm to 7.30pm local time on January 12.

Each commissioner-designate is invited to a three-hour public hearing with the parliamentary committee(s) responsible for the portfolio concerned.
 
"These hearings enable the committees to get to know the personalities of the commissioners-designate and have a detailed exchange of views with the various candidates on their priorities in their prospective areas of responsibility," according to the European Parliament.
 
The committees then evaluate each of the commissioners-designate.
 
They check that the commissioners-designate have the skills required not only to be members of the European Commission in general, but also to be in charge of a particular portfolio.
 
The results of the hearings are sent to the President of the European Parliament and considered by the Conference of Presidents, comprising the President and all political group leaders, and by the Conference of Committee Chairs.
 
The Commission President presents the College of Commissioners-designate and their programme to a plenary sitting of Parliament which the Council of the EU is invited to attend. This presentation is followed by a debate.
 
Lastly, the European Parliament votes on approval of the whole European Commission as a body. The new Commission can then be formally appointed by the European Council, acting by a qualified majority.
 
The European Parliament vote on the proposed new European Commission is provisionally scheduled for January 26 2010. If approved, the new Commission will take office at the beginning of February.