The Commissioner-designate for Enlargement and Neighbourhood, Olivér Várhelyi, did not convince, on Thursday 14 November, during his hearing before the Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.
At their Coordinators' meeting, held at the end of the hearing, the EPP, ECR and ID groups voted in favour of the appointment of Mr Várhelyi, while the S&D, the Greens/EFA and the GUE/NGL opposed it.
This opposition is not a surprise, given the attacks from members of these three groups during the hearing against the Commissioner-designate's “conflict of loyalty” to his country, as defined by Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA, Spain).
According to a parliamentary source, Renew Europe, seeing that it would not be possible to have a majority in favour of the candidate, would have come out in favour of additional questions. The S&D also wanted further clarification.
As a result, five additional questions were addressed to the Commissioner-designate. These, obtained by EUROPE, have, for the most part, already been asked during the hearing. They concern the possible influences of the Hungarian Government, his functions as Commissioner and, in a barely veiled parallel, the situation of the Rule of law in Hungary and Poland, the recommendations he would make concerning a candidate country in such a situation in the Commission's monitoring report.
MEPs also call on the current Hungarian Ambassador to the EU to commit to suspending EU financial support to governments violating human rights - including the rights of migrants -, to say whether he is in favour of reducing funding for Turkey and to clarify what the level of pre-accession funding for the Western Balkans should be. Finally, the questions also concern the creation of a targeted sanctions regime for human rights violations or the support that the candidate Commissioner intends to provide to civil society in the EU's partner countries.
The Commissioner-designate's responses are expected by Monday 18 November, at noon.
Attacks on nationality
Like many of the new written questions, a large part of his hearing, which lasted 2.5 hours, focused on the relevance of assigning the enlargement and neighbourhood portfolio to a Hungarian, of which the country: - is under the Article 7 procedure; - welcomes former Macedonian Prime Minister Gruevski, who is being prosecuted in his country; - is considered close to Russia; - and supported the Turkish intervention in Syria.
“I am not here to represent the Hungarian government, but to represent myself”, said the Commissioner-designate. He promised that as Commissioner, his role would be to represent the EU, that he would act in an “independent” and collegial manner and would not take orders from any government. “I will not accept any interference from any government in my work”, he added. In support of his comments, Mr Várhelyi recalled that he had worked for 4 years as a European civil servant “independently”.
The Commissioner-designate even implicitly acknowledged that his country, if it were in the accession process, could be rejected. “Do you think that a State that oppresses opposition parties, controls almost entirely the national media, forces judges to retire early, restricts academic freedom and discriminates against minorities would meet the criteria of the Rule of law to become a Member State?“, Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, the Netherlands) questioned, targeting Hungary without naming the country. Mr Várhelyi acknowledged that if a candidate were in this disposition, he “would not get the support of the Member States to open the EU doors to this State”.
Unclear on files
On the substance of the files, the Commissioner-designate was not very specific.
Western Balkans. Mr Várhelyi answered many questions about the European perspective of the Western Balkans, a perspective that must be “credible in the EU's own geopolitical interest”, as the region is “an integral part of Europe”. He also wanted these countries to be involved in the EU's “crucial” policies even before their accession, for example: the Green Deal, transport and energy networks and digital technology. According to the Commissioner-designate, the major challenge is the economic development gap in the Western Balkans and the EU.
“In 5 years' time, I would like the Western Balkans to be much more developed, there to be peace between Serbia and Kosovo, Kosovars to be able to travel without visas, EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania to be well advanced or even close to completion, and Serbia to be ready to join the EU”, he summarised. “It may sound a little ambitious, but without ambition, there is no result”, he added. The Commissioner-designate has also been very ambitious in hoping for an agreement arising from dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo in 2020, while this dialogue is currently at a standstill.
Recalling the European Commission's support for the opening of accession negotiations with Skopje and Tirana, the candidate announced that he would try, from the beginning of his mandate, to engage in a dialogue with France, the Netherlands and Denmark, which led to the non-opening of negotiations in October. “It must be ensured that North Macedonia and Albania can start negotiations with the Zagreb Summit (in May). Problems related to the Rule of law must be addressed. I will work with these countries to address the concerns (of some Member States) and meet the necessary conditions”, he explained. His priority will be a “common assessment by Member States and the Commission” of the facts on the ground, proposing that Member States be included in field missions.
In response to the willingness of some Member States to change the accession process, the Commissioner-designate said that he did not intend to review “the whole framework”, but “the methodology, to make it more dynamic, especially for candidate countries that want to move faster”, without giving details.
Turkey. The Commissioner-designate explained that he wished to launch a reflection with the Council of the EU and the European Parliament on the future of relations with Turkey, to reflect on “a strategic partnership based on a common interest and within existing frameworks”.
“There will have to be a real debate on the future of relations”, he stressed, recalling that various factors should be taken into account, including the decline of the Rule of law in the country, its essential role in managing the migration crisis or the “increasingly aggressive foreign policy” of this NATO member. “Stopping the accession process without an accession is a strategic thing”, he also recalled, adding that the Commissioner alone could not do it.
Mr Verhalyi recalled that Parliament wanted to cancel pre-accession funds for Turkey, which had already been significantly reduced, but was more cautious on this point, recalling that most of the remaining funding was intended to help civil society.
Eastern Neighbourhood. On the Eastern Partnership (EaP), Mr Várhelyi said he would work on new long-term political objectives, which would be “presented by the Commission well in advance of the EaP summit in June [2020]” in Brussels. He hoped that the most advanced countries - Ukraine, but also Moldova and Georgia - could be further integrated into as many European policies as possible, such as economic development, basic transport and energy infrastructure and the Green Deal. He also underlined his support for any action to restore Ukraine's territorial integrity and for maintaining sanctions against Russia until there is progress in the Minsk process.
Southern neighbourhood. On the southern front, Mr Várhelyi called for the EU to strengthen its relations with Morocco and Tunisia. On Algeria, he was cautious, explaining that if Europeans wanted the country to embrace democracy, it was up to the Algerian people to decide. In his view, the EU should also increase its support to Jordan and Lebanon in their efforts to receive Syrian refugees.
Beyond the humanitarian issue concerning migrants, the Commissioner-designate recalled that Libya was “in the grip of a civil war”. “It must be stabilized. To do this, the EU will not be able to act alone, it will need international partners, the full commitment of the United States”, he said.
For both eastern and southern countries, Mr Várhelyi also highlighted the fight against illegal migration, explaining that the EU could help these countries protect their borders and meet the needs of the migrants they receive. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant, with Pascal Hansens)