At his hearing in Strasbourg on Monday 12 September, the commissioner-designate for the Security Union, Sir Julian King, tried to convince the European Parliament's civil liberties (LIBE) committee that he would exercise his duties as well as possible and serve the European interest with integrity.
Judging from the reactions of the political groups, the British diplomat, nominated by former prime minister David Cameron to replace his compatriot Jonathn Hill, seemed to have passed the test at the end of a three-hour question and answer session.
King, who is currently the British ambassador to France, had to circumvent a few questions (largely from eurosceptic and europhobic groups) about his country's exit from the EU when he spoke to the gathering - which also included members of the foreign affairs (AFET) committee.
He neverthelss refused to comment on his government's position and was thus unable to reply to a question about the length of his mandate, given that he cannot predict "the length of the negotiations" that will take place between the British government and the EU once Article 50 of the treaty has been triggered, he said.
Warning against UK leaving Europol. After being heard for more than two and a half hours, King briefly emerged from his neutrality, warning London against leaving Europol, the European police cooperation agency. "If the UK decides not to participate in Europol, then there will be a problem", he said, fearing a sort of "gap" for his country.
The candidate commissioner, who will be tasked with giving substance to the EU's Agenda on Security and working in coordination with European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, as well as with the commissioners for migration and internal affairs, Dimitris Avramopoulos, and justice, Věra Jourová, spoke of his experience on the ground. In particular, he said he had witnessed the terrorist attacks in Paris, but he had also previously worked for peace in Northern Ireland, where he built up experience on counter-terrorism.
Subtly avoiding any precise answer about his country's future in the EU, while giving assurances that the UK will continue to experience the same challenges as the EU once the separation has taken place, King mainly underlined - as he had previously done in his written responses (see EUROPE 11620) - the importance of fighting cybercrime and of strengthening member states' cyber resilience. He also advocated the urgent implementation of decisions already taken, such as the European PNR directive on the transfer of air passengers' data to the USA (see EUROPE 11535). In his view, barely three member states would currently be able to operate the units for handling passenger data.
King also urged the European legislator to agree on the counter-terrorism proposal as quickly as possible (see EUROPE 11510). With regard to the fight against radicalisation, the potential future commissioner said he was ready to increase the resources of the European Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN). On the senstive issue of the encryption of communications, the commissioner-designate left it to the recommendations he will seek from practitioners and experts before deciding on the course of action.
Europol will not be a European FBI. King set a very clear line - that of staying in the framework of the treaties. He therefore said that Europol and its counter-terrorism centre, which will develop and be strengthened by 80-90 additional people, could not become a European FBI as Europol does "not have the same coercive role".
The candidate commissioner also strongly emphasised one of the senstive points observed between the member states - that of sharing relevant information and intelligence. He gave assurances that he would make every effort for the member states to use the European information systems, such as the Schengen Information System, and for them to exchange quality information.
King also satisfied MEPs such as Sophie in't Veld (ALDE, the Netherlands) and Birgit Sippel (S&D, Germany) by giving assurances that he was ready to review the effectiveness of existing tools and strategies. For Jan Phillip Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany), King did a "good job" and he hoped this would continue once King was in office.
The S&D Group issued a press release supporting King, with Sippel deeming his performance to be "overall positive". The ECR Group also hailed a "solid" performance from the commissioner candidate.
The LIBE committee coordinators will meet again at 9.00am on Tuesday 13 September in orrder to assess King's hearing. The Parliament is due to vote on his appointment on Thursday 15 September. In the end it will be up to the Council of the EU to make a formal decision on King's candidature, based on the Parliament's assessment. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)