Brussels, 12/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The hearings of the commissioners-designate presented by Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday 10 September will take place between 29 September and 7 October, European Parliament spokesperson Jaume Duch said on Friday 12 September. The first hearings will take place between Monday 29 September and Thursday 2 October and the second raft will be on the afternoon of Monday 6 October and Tuesday 7.
The relevant Parliamentary committees still have to firm up their timetables, so only in the middle of next week, Wednesday or Thursday, will the exact dates be known. A number of points have to be settled, notably with regard to the vice-presidents responsible for several areas. Two possibilities have been envisaged for these seven vice-presidents (Frans Timmermans, Kristalina Georgieva, Alenka Bratusek, Jyrki Katainen, Valdis Dombrovskis, Andrus Ansip and Federica Mogherini): they could be heard by the committees at the end of the hearings period, said Duch, and questioned by the Conference of the Presidents of the Parliament's political groups. There are situations where it will be appropriate for one single committee to question the commissioner-designate but, for others with cross-cutting responsibilities, the hearing may have to take place with a number of joint committees, Duch said.
Parliament wants to complete the hearings by 9 October, the date on which the leaders of the political groups, meeting in conference, will review the candidates and how they performed. If all goes well, voting on the Juncker College of Commissioners as a whole will be on the Parliament agenda for 22 October in Strasbourg.
Prior to the hearings, the Parliamentary committees will submit their written questions to the candidates on 18 September, the EP said. The commissioners-designate will have to respond in writing by 26 September at the latest. The questionnaire will contain two questions common to all, relating to responsibilities, the portfolio and cooperation with the Parliament, along with three questions from the relevant committee. If more than one committee is involved in the hearing, they will all have the opportunity to submit two further written questions. Hearings are expected to last at least three hours.
The commissioners-designate will make an oral introductory statement, which will be followed by questions from the MEPs. Each Parliamentary committee will then draft an assessment in camera to be sent to the president of the Parliament.
On Friday morning, at the presentation of the first plenary session after the summer recess, some political groups warned that they intended to give a hard time to some commissioners. The Social Democrats have the Hungarian commissioner-designate, Tibor Navracsics, who will be in charge of citizenship and education, in their sights and also Jonathan Hill of the United Kingdom, who will have responsibility for financial services “when greater regulation is what's needed”, according to the group's spokesperson.
The ALDE Group is relatively pleased with the choices made by Juncker, the group's spokesperson, Neil Cornett, said. The Liberals have been handed two vice-presidencies (Alenka Bratusek and Andrus Ansip) and coveted portfolios, such as trade, which has been given to Cecilia Malmström.
The GUE/NGL and Green/EFA will also have Hill and Navracsics in their crosshairs, along with the Spanish candidate Miguel Arias Canete, at climate and energy, both groups being critical of this latter's links with the oil industry. They will also pay close attention to Phil Hogan of Ireland, who was implicated in a consultancy fees row involving public company Irish Water. Alenka Bratusek of Slovenia will be closely questioned by Slovenian EPP MEPs who are unhappy about the way she was nominated, though this does not reflect the position of the EPP Group as a whole, stated spokesperson Pedro Lopez de Pablo on Friday. (SP)