- Title: Macron's candidate for top European job rejected by EU lawmakers
- Date: 10th October 2019
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 10, 2019) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EU PARLIAMENT EU PARLIAMENT LOGO
- Embargoed: 24th October 2019 15:13
- Keywords: Von der leyen EU Parliament Debate EU Goulard European Union Confirmation hearing Internal Market scandal Berggruen Institute EU Commission
- Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: European Union,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002B0IMXC7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: DANISH TRANSLATION IN SHOT 9 PROVIDED BY OFFICIAL INTERPRETER
Sylvie Goulard, France's choice to be the next head of European Union industrial policy, was rejected by EU lawmakers on Thursday (October 10) after a second hearing in which she failed to quell concerns over her role in a jobs scandal.
Goulard was rejected by 82 EU lawmakers in two committees charged with vetting her, with only 29 backing her, failing to reach the requisite two-thirds support.
The rejection, led by the biggest group in the European Parliament, is framed against the backdrop of a power struggle between lawmakers and French President Emmanuel Macron about who should take leadership roles in the next European Commission, the EU's executive.
Parliament, which has been fragmented between pro and anti-EU groups since May elections, will vote on the Commission as a whole on October 23 before it can take office.
Following Macron's 2017 election victory, Goulard was appointed French defence minister but resigned barely a month into the job after an investigation into the way her political party, MoDem, hired assistants in the European assembly.
She was also pressed on her work for the U.S.-based Berggruen Institute during her time as an EU lawmaker, where she received more than 10,000 euros a month from 2013 to 2016. Some EU lawmakers considered that a financial conflict of interest.
(Production: Clement Rossignol, Bart Biesemans) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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