The Conference of Committee Chairs of the European Parliament will briefly meet, on Wednesday 11 September at 3 p.m., Ioan Mircea Pașcu, the candidate proposed by Bucharest to replace the Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Creţu, until the end of the Juncker Commission's mandate.
The Conference will only meet with the Romanian candidate. Faced with the slowness of the procedure (see EUROPE 12297/4), Tallinn decided, on Monday 9 September, to withdraw the candidature of Kadri Simson, proposed to replace his compatriot Andrus Ansip. However, Mrs Simson is Commissioner-designate for Energy in the future 'von der Leyen' Commission (see other news).
On Wednesday, it will be a meeting and not a hearing, we were told. It will take place during the regular meeting of the Conference of Committee Chairs, which will last 2 hours. The exchange of views will take place behind closed doors. The decision on whether or not to present Romania's candidacy for the plenary session from 16 to 19 September will be taken by the Conference of Presidents of Political Groups (CoP) on Thursday 12 September.
On Tuesday 10 September, at the meeting of the Secretaries General preparing the CoP, there was still discussion on whether or not to fill the post as the Juncker Commission was coming to an end.
The subject is being debated in the ranks of the European Parliament. Earlier in the week, the chairwoman of the Committee on Budgetary Control, Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany), sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, in which she strongly criticised the extra cost of assigning a post to the Romanian, especially since he will not be given any portfolio. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)