Leaked: Tense correspondence between EU commissioner hopefuls and Parliament

A spokesperson for Magnus Brunner said they did not wish to comment on this ongoing process.

— Portugal’s Maria Luís Albuquerque was also asked to provide more information about her financial interests and amended her previous declarations by giving more details about her role in two companies — which she did. That includes her own boutique consultancy that she owns with her husband, which she says she is in the process of leaving, and a holding company, HRRL Açores, in which she participated as part of her previous activities. Albuquerque did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Submitted to Parliament’s demands

— Slovenia’s Marta Kos intrigued lawmakers when declaring around €1 million in savings accounts and was asked to provide more details — which she did. The future commissioner for enlargement declared owning around €523,000 in the regional bank for the Swiss canton of Vaud, the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. An investment manager also based in Switzerland is moving the money in various mutual funds (40 percent), the rest of it is being split between companies in the watchmaking sector, food industry, pharmaceutical sector, financial services, health care, but also in commodities like gold.

The former ambassador-turned-consultant for a lobbying firm in Brussels has also invested €682,000 through a Slovenian bank, which deals with investments in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, according to graphics she included. Kos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Bulgarian Commission nominee Ekaterina Zaharieva was asked to clarify the source of €38,000 in cash which she declared belonged to her husband. In her answer to lawmakers, she said this comes from his work as an architect and clarified shares he owns in other companies like his architect studio. Zaharieva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Italy’s Raffaele Fitto provided lawmakers with numerous documents to clarify the number and current market value of the shares he owns in banks — whose worth remains below the €10,000 threshold. The future vice president of the Commission, in charge of the multibillion-euro Cohesion Fund, also corrected his previous declaration as he noticed a €860 gap in the amount listed as his savings (worth €246,090).

The right-wing politician was also asked to clarify the origins and loans related to his real estate assets portfolio, which includes the total ownership of seven apartments and shares in three others. His real estate assets, all located in Italy, also include land, two garages and a cellar. Two of those assets were entirely financed through personal funds, he detailed, while two others implied mortgages. One of them — a €600,000 mortgage with Banco di Napoli (now Banca Intesa Sanpaolo)— is still being paid. Fitto did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Croatia’s Dubravka Šuica decided to submit to the committee’s demand to sell all her shares in maritime shipping company Atlantska Plovidba worth €3,684. Though highlighting that she has always declared these shares since she started as commissioner, she acknowledged the committee’s worries that these could now give way to a conflict of interest as she has been assigned the Mediterranean portfolio. She will sell her shares “in the interest of full transparency, and to avoid any instance of a perception of a potential conflict of interest,” her letter to the committee reads. Šuica did not immediately respond to a request for comment.