The Heads of State or Government had given Member States until 26 August to submit the names of their respective candidates, in order to allow time for the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to form her team.
Since her narrow election to the European Parliament in July (see EUROPE 12297/1), Mrs von der Leyen has already visited Germany, France, Poland, Croatia, Spain and Italy. She has also met with a number of candidates informally.
On 27 August, the President-elect officially began formal consultations with the candidates and “hopes to have a complete list around next week”, according to AFP, which cites a European source.
On 10 September 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker visited the press room to present the organisation of the College and the names of the Commissioners-designate and their respective portfolios (see EUROPE 11152/1).
With the exception of the Commission's entry into office on 1 November (Article 17 TEU), the European Treaty does not set any specific deadline.
However, the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure (Annex VII) emphasise that the Committee on Legal Affairs must examine candidates’ declarations of interest and that the various parliamentary committees must send them a series of written questions for the hearings.
Logically, these hearings - which allow MEPs to reject one or other candidate on a case by case basis - should take place from 30 September to 8 October, before a plenary vote on the entire Commission on 23 October.
In 2014, the Parliament rejected the Slovenian Alenka Bratusek (see EUROPE 11173/3). It also forced Johnathan Hill of Great Britain to repeat a second oral (see EUROPE 11171/6) and sent additional written questions to Pierre Moscovici (see EUROPE 11169/5). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)