Commissioner Hearings: Adina-Ioana Vălean

Commissioner-designate Adina-Ioana Vălean giving her opening statement for the transport portfolio, on November 14. The Romanian candidate is one of the latest additions to Ursula von der Leyen's team, following a complicated nomination process. On 26 September, the JURI committee voted not to allow Rovana Plumb to proceed to her full hearing. After initially proposing Dan Nica as a replacement, the government was toppled by a vote of no-confidence on 10 October. As opposition forces fail to put together a working alternative, the caretaker administration named former MEP Victor Negrescu on 29 October as the new candidate. However, the day after, the Commission said his candidacy was not under consideration, after Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said acting PM Viorica Dancila did not have the right to make the nomination. After the country’s parliament backed a minority EPP-affiliated government on 4 November, MEPs Siegfried Mureșan and Adina-Ioana Vălean were nominated, with the female candidate getting the nod. She then endured a tough hearing but did just enough to get the green light from the committee.