On Thursday 3 October, the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) began examining the declarations of interest made by Commissioners-designate, which constitutes a decisive stage before the confirmation hearings. However, The Left group in the European Parliament has voiced strong criticism of the lack of transparency and effectiveness of this process.
The group’s co-chair, Manon Aubry (French), was outraged at the lack of independent scrutiny of conflicts of interest, describing it as a “farce”, a “quick process behind closed doors” where “the Commissioners themselves judge the extent of their conflicts of interest”.
Martin Schirdewan (German), also co-chair, criticised the politicisation of the process, which he saw as a consequence of there not being a dedicated Employment and Social Affairs portfolio (see EUROPE 13484/5).
The Left group, which condemns the lack of expertise and resources of the JURI Commission, whose examination is now limited to specific parts of the declarations of interest, is therefore calling for urgent reforms, including strengthening the power of the recently created European Ethics Body (see EUROPE 13410/3). It should be given greater prerogatives, with stricter requirements in terms of financial transparency.
The Left is also calling for a complete de-politicisation of the process for appointing Commissioners in order to restore public trust in European institutions, which has been damaged by recent scandals such as Qatargate.
The Conference of Committee Chairs has asked for the review to be finalised before 18 October. Declarations of interest will be made public at the end of this process.
Read the demands here: https://aeur.eu/f/dqc (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)