The three Executive Vice-Presidents-designate of the next European Commission, Frans Timmermans, Valdis Dombrovskis and Margrethe Vestager, are expected to be heard by relevant parliamentary committees, not by the Conference of Presidents (CoP), according to the discussions of the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC), which took place on Tuesday 17 September on the margins of the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
A series of three hearings is thus scheduled to take place on 8 October. The main committees for the hearings are more or less defined. Still to be determined are the associated and invited committees. These last two statutes are important because they define the number of questions that the committee may ask during the hearings, knowing that in all, a maximum of 25 questions may be asked. It is agreed, for example, that invited committees can only ask one question (with a few exceptions), we are told.
Thus, Mr Dombrovskis should be heard by the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) and by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL). Mrs Vestager is expected to be heard by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) committees. Mr Timmermans will be interviewed by the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI).
This formula is not definitive and has yet to be confirmed by the Conference of Presidents, which will meet on Thursday 19 September in Strasbourg. If confirmed, it will then be a victory for ENVI committee chair Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, France). Last week, the MEP took a firm stand against a hearing by the Conference of Presidents. According to him, only the competent committees have the necessary powers to hear Commissioners (see EUROPE 12327/10).
Timetable of hearings of all Commissioners. In the late afternoon, a draft timetable of all the hearings was circulated internally. This timetable will have to be confirmed at the CoP on Thursday. To consult it: http://bit.ly/2lVUGlV (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)