World Bank vice-president Kristalina Georgieva, Bulgaria's new Commissioner-designate gave a confident performance at her parliamentary hearing on Wednesday 3 February. Georgieva was nominated to become Commissioner for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response following the withdrawal of the controversial candidate Rumania Jeleva. Georgieva faced questions on how she would respond to humanitarian crises in Haiti, Sudan, Burma, the Congo, Afghanistan and Gaza among others. Her responses were largely well received by MEPs.

Questioned about the Europe's lack of visibility over the crisis in Haiti, she said that the EU's actions so far had been "very impressive" but admitted that its communication of those actions was "slightly underwhelming." She said that the two priorities for Haiti were "immediate relief" and "long-term development."

Georgieva said she would speak out against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, emphasise the need for better disaster prevention strategies and create a European voluntary humanitarian corps in 2011. However, she avoided taking a stance on the role of the military in humanitarian interventions and said that the establishment of an EU reaction force would be a matter to discuss with the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton.

Parliament will take its delayed vote on Barroso's second Commission team on Tuesday 9 February. The result is expected to confirm the proposed Commission, which will take up office the day after the vote.

Sources:

• EUobserver
• European Parliament
• Financial Times