Shortly before the hearings of EU Commissioners, the European anti-fraud authority Olaf has partially relieved the Polish candidate. Against Janusz Wojciechowski - in the future EU Commission of Ursula von der Leyen as Agricultural Commissioner provided - no criminal action is recommended, said Olaf in Brussels.
In the travel statements of the former MEP and current member of the EU Court of Auditors, however, irregularities have been discovered, it said. It is therefore recommended that Wojciechowski pay back 11,243 euros. This has already happened.
The European Parliament hearings of the candidates for the new EU Commission, due to start on 1 November, will begin next week. Individual candidates could be exchanged. At the end of October, MEPs vote on the staff package as a whole.
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Several candidates were recently raised concerns. The nominees from Romania and Hungary were temporarily stopped by the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament due to financial conflicts of interest. The committee should revisit the matter on Monday. (Read more about the backgrounds here)
The CDU in the European Parliament had also called for clarifying allegations of corruption against the Belgian candidate Didier Reynders. The public prosecutor's office in Brussels has now declared that it will suspend investigations due to a lack of suspicions.