It was probably over before it even started. As I watched Bulgaria’s minister of foreign affairs, Rumiana Jeleva, shuffle with discernible panic in her chair, any notions she had of becoming the EU’s future commissioner for humanitarian affairs came to an abrupt end.
That was last Tuesday at the European Parliament as MEPs from around Europe put her to the grind to explain financial discrepancies and ostensible hidden business portfolios. At the very last minute, one MEP signalled her out and said that Jeleva was the current CEO of a company established by the former communist secret service in Liechtenstein.
At that conjecture, Jeleva would pause, her gaze caught in an imaginary headline until finally she would say – “I’m glad you asked that question” – something she would repeat ad hominum. Escape, panic, run! But, no. There is no back exit from this stage.
But just as shocking were her loose understanding of world events. And as she evaded questions with obscure answers, it became painfully obvious that this person did not have a firm understanding of what she was talking about. A surprise given that she was a foreign minister, albeit for only three months.
Yesterday, she announced her resignation from the world of politics. And now apparently, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized. Jeleva’s naivety had no appeal here and that she would ever bargain her reputation as a serious politician without offering full disclosure, without having (could it be?) prepared for this dossier, either is a display of arrogance or sheer stupidity.
