Several European commissioners and MEPs question the impartiality of an appointment to a high position in the EU executive. President Ursula von der Leyen will have to explain herself during a debate in Parliament next week.
The affair, which is agitating Brussels political circles, concerns the appointment on January 31 by the European Commission of an envoy in charge of small and medium-sized businesses. This post was awarded to German conservative MEP (EPP) Markus Pieper, a few weeks before a congress in Bucharest.