Incoming High Commissioner Kaja Kallas passes EU finances scrutiny
Incoming High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas has said she always complies with the bloc's transparency rules, insider scoop publication POLITICO reports.
The former prime minister of Estonia told EU lawmakers that she had thoroughly reviewed her financial situation ahead of taking up the post, as the union's institutions do their due diligence on the new officials.
Kallas said that she had done this together with her spouse.
The European Parliament has approved 23 European Commissioner nominees, POLITICO reports, though concerns emerged over incomplete conflict-of-interest forms, and several nominees were s financial disclosures were scrutinized.
Kallas said she has long stuck to transparency requirements, and had made a conscious decision not to invest in financial instruments while working as an official.
This meant she didn't have any financial interests to declare.
"I have not declared any financial interests because I do not have any," she wrote to the European Parliament's legal committee.
Finland's Henna Virkkunen, due to be the next Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, took a similar line, though incoming commissioners from several other European countries faced questions.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Greece) faced scrutiny over his inherited real estate holdings, while Stephane Sejourne (France) had only adhered "minimally" to the code of conduct.
On the other hand many officials seemed to have gone out of their way to comply with the rules.
All 23 nominees have been cleared by the legal committee for hearings in early November.
A lawyer by training, Kaja Kallas was prime minister of Estonia from the start of 2021 to summer this year, having previously served as an MEP from 2014. She returned from Brussels ahead of becoming Reform Party leader, in 2019. She had to step down as both prime minister and party leader to take up the high commissioner post, replacing Josep Borrell. Her name had at one time also been connected in the media with the NATO secretary general position, which has now been filled by Mark Rutte.
In late August last year, controversy arose due to Prime Minister Kaja Kallas' husband, Arvo Hallik, being involved with Stark Logistics, which had continued business activities related to Russia during the Ukraine war.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte