Brussels, 17/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - European commissioners will attend hearings at the European Parliament in September, if the scheduled timetable is stuck to, and will be judged on their capabilities rather than political criteria, stated the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz of Germany, ahead of the European summit. He warned that the EP would not hesitate to reject a “Juncker Commission” that did not comprise at least one third female Commissioners, saying that heads of state had to help Jean-Claude Juncker overcome this obstacle because only four or five women have so far been proposed by the member states as candidates. Italy has fielded Federica Mogherini, Bulgaria Kristalina Georgieva and Belgium Marianne Thyssen (although Belgium may also put forward Liberal (male) Karel de Gucht). Maria Damanaki (a Socialist) is said to want to remain a European Commissioner, but she has not yet been officially designated by the Greek government.
The proportion of women commissioners is of great importance to the European Parliament, and Schulz said that he had made this clear at the summit. He also returned to comments attributed to him about the new British commissioner, Lord Jonathan Hill. Although he had spoken in the morning of the risks of a commissioner described as eurosceptic being rejected by the European Parliament, Schulz did a U-turn at the press conference, pointing out that Hill was not, in fact, a eurosceptic. He added that the candidate fielded by Cameron would be treated with the same rigour as any other candidate and judged on his abilities, but all candidates would have to defend the European Union's values. (SP)