The leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament has described the resignation of the Bulgarian candidate for the European Commission as 'inevitable and predictable'.
Rumiana Jeleva has also offered her resignation as Bulgaria's Foreign Minister amid rumours over her financial affairs, although it is reported that the prime minister has not accepted.
Ms Jeleva had been proposed as European Commissioner for humanitarian aid.
MEPs were due to vote on her nomination this evening, but many were unimpressed at Ms Jeleva's performance at her confirmation hearing.
Dublin MEP Gay Mitchell, a member of the European Parliament's Development Committee, has said that Ms Jeleva was not treated fairly at her hearing and that both the Commission and the European Parliament's legal service had confirmed that she had met her financial disclosure obligations.
He suggested that the procedure had been abusive from start to finish.
The row had centred on her role in a Bulgarian consultancy firm. She said her involvement ended in 2007.
But there were also rumours of her husband's involvement in a Bulgarian bank thought to be a vehicle for the investment of the proceeds of organised crime.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the Bulgarian government has nominated the World Bank's Kristalina Georgieva as a replacement candidate.
The European Parliament is now expected to delay its vote on the incoming Commission line-up, which had been planned for 26 January.
