The European Parliament will, on 3 February, hold its hearing of Kristalina Georgieva, the Bulgarian candidate replacing Rumiana Jeleva as Commissioner-designate for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. Georgieva is in the running for the portfolio because Jeleva withdrew under political pressure over her grasp of the portfolio and questions about her financial affairs.

In written answers to the standard MEPs’ questionnaire to prospective commissioners, made public on 29 January, Georgieva notably heavily emphasised her track record of transparency and qualifications for the job, clearly distancing herself from Jeleva. “For the last 18 years I have worked for an institution that has stringent conflict of interest and code of conduct rules and which has held its senior management to the highest standards,” she said, pledging to comply with all ethical standards.

She then outlined her humanitarian work over a period of 18 years at the World Bank, where she is currently vice-president, which included social safety nets, community development, women’s empowerment, assistance to developing nations and the effects of climate change on vulnerable communities worldwide.

She diplomatically addressed the parliamentarians’ habitual concern that they would not be adequately consulted by the Commission, explaining she had a history of cooperation and coordination in her previous work. “I always focused on achieving the highest impact from our scarce development resources for the benefit of people in the developing world. In any task I sought collaborative approaches and partners, especially across the UN system, with the EU and its member states and with NGOs,” she added.

Georgieva showed herself willing to address current controversies surrounding her prospective portfolio, discussing the ongoing emergency and reconstruction response in Haiti and the visibility of the EU’s aid actions.

Again tactful, the Bulgarian candidate was careful to acknowledge the “excellent cooperation between humanitarian aid and civil protection actors” in the earthquake zone. But she also suggested, even at this early stage, assessing how to improve on this response. “We need to do an evaluation of the outcomes of this and other crises and then, in a very open and inclusive consultative spirit, draw lessons and feed them back into the organisation of our work,” she said.

She specified that ways should be found to ensure that any military protection for humanitarian workers did not undermine their ability to work effectively in the field. “Success in one place may mean more trouble in another – lowering security risks through military protection could undermine the very principle of neutrality, which lays the foundation for humanitarian aid to work,” she said.

Georgieva also directly addressed the EU’s visibility in humanitarian operations.Ther e is a “need to increase the visibility of Europe in the field of humanitarian assistance”, she noted.