European Commissioners-designate face parliamentary grillings

The hearings for the new batch of Commissioners nominated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will kick off today and stretch till next Tuesday in the European Parliament.

The 26 Commissioners-designate have already answered written questions from MEPs on parliamentary committees related to their portfolios, to convince them of their expertise, their commitment to Europe and their integrity.

"Each Commissioner-designate will hold a three-hour hearing during which he or she will have 15 minutes to present his or her programme to the committee", explained Javier Carbonell, political analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC).

"Then there will be an evaluation by the committee chairmen and the chairmen of the different groups, and they will decide whether or not to accept the commissioner".

Rejected candidates

If a Commissioner-designate is rejected, their portfolio can be adjusted, or another nominee from the same country must be proposed, restarting the procedure from the beginning.

In 2019, Hungarian László Trócsányi and Romanian Rovana Plumb were both rejected. MEPs also turned down the candidacy of France's Sylvie Goulard due to concerns about her integrity and independence.

This year, some candidates seem more vulnerable.

"There is the Italian candidate Raffaele Fitto, who has been criticised, I don't think so much for his personality, but for his party, because he comes from Meloni's far-right party in Italy," says Sophia Russack, a researcher at the CEPS.

Olivér Várhelyi, the current Hungarian Commissioner, backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, could also be in trouble.

"The Parliament was not very satisfied with his performance during the last mandate. And precisely because he seems to have been very close to Viktor Orban," Russack added.

Political calculations

The hearings of the Commissioners-designate are a highly political process in which the political groups do not hesitate to reciprocate. According to the researcher, it's a case of give and take.

"It's also possible that everyone is a little softer on each other because they want to avoid being reciprocated," explained Russack. "So they're careful to avoid asking questions that are too difficult so as not to endanger their own candidates by being too hard on candidates from other parties."

"If a candidate from one party is rejected by another party, the first party will take revenge on the other candidates. This means that there is an incentive for the traditional parties, given that their voting margins are smaller, to respect and support each other," said Carbonell.

The toughest questions are poised to come from the Greens and the Left, as they have no candidates and thus nothing to lose.

If the candidates pass the test, the new Commission must then receive approval from the European Parliament's plenary session before being appointed by the European Council.