Brussels, 15/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - “Impressed” by the qualities and outstanding preparation of Violeta Bulc, the new Slovenian commissioner-designate who has replaced Alenka Bratusek, the president-elect of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who met Bulc on the evening of Tuesday 14 October and accepted her name, confirmed on Wednesday 15 October that he was giving Slovenia the Transport portfolio (the Space component will be added to the Single Market). Slovakia's Maros Sefcovic will inherit the vice-presidency in charge of the energy union.
This means that there will be two further hearings in Strasbourg early next week. The European Parliament was working on the timetable for this on Wednesday 15 October. Over at the European Commission, there was a bit more optimism as to the possibility that the Parliament's vote on the Juncker college will be held on 22 October (ahead of the European summit on 23-24 October), allowing the new Commission to take up office in early November.
The day of 21 October will be given over to assessments of these hearings by the members of the European Parliament. If the commissioners-designate are approved, the vote on the college will be held on 22 October, as initially planned. The conference of the presidents scheduled for the morning of Thursday 16 October will return to this timetable.
The existing political pact between the two main families of the Parliament (EPP and S&D) aims not to let things drag out too much but to allow the Commission to enter into force as soon as possible. The Social Democrats, who felt slighted following the European elections and under-represented in the Juncker Commission, made their green light for Violeta Bulc conditional on Maros Sefcovic bagging the vice-presidency, according to certain sources. But although the timetable could move along quickly (the written questions to the new commissioners will be largely the same as those sent out during the first round of hearings between 29 September and 7 October, and the heads of the political groups of the Parliament are expected informally to agree on sending the questionnaires out to the candidates in question between Wednesday evening and Thursday), the MEPs cannot afford to let anybody through who put in a poor performance at their hearing, one source observed. Otherwise, there is a risk of undermining the credibility of the Parliament, which has already been changed by the political arrangements between groups. This risk, which is a real one, was minimised by Juncker as regards Bulc. He said that the new commissioner has an “impressive ability to learn quickly”, his spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, said. (SP)