While the final schedule for the hearings of the commissioners-designate was adopted by the European Parliament on Thursday, 10 October (see other news), Agence Europe has examined the written questions that MEPs sent Slovenian Marta Kos, who has been appointed to take over the enlargement portfolio.
As a result, the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) wants to know what the commissioner-designate’s “concrete priorities” will be and how she envisages working together with future High Representative of the Union Kaja Kallas.
With regard to the acquis communautaire, MEPs want to know how the Slovenian intends to “ensure robust and enhanced monitoring” while “sanctioning regression on fundamental principles and values”.
Concerning the integration process for the Western Balkans (which has been underway for many years), the elected representatives ask, “How do you plan to restore credibility of the EU enlargement process [...], and what specific measures will you take to ensure faster progress on long-awaited key reforms in this region?”
It should be noted that Marta Kos’s predecessor in the post of Commissioner for Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi—although very much in favour of integrating the Balkans—was criticised for his lack of impartiality with regard to the fundamental democratic conditions of the process.
Despite Serbia’s serious shortcomings with respect to democracy and the rule of law, he showed himself to be particularly favourable towards Belgrade’s aspiration to join the EU.
On the financial front, the European Parliament is calling for the commissioner-designate to apply “strict conditionality in the implementation of the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans [and] the Ukraine Facility”.
The EU could have 36 members by 2035. Such an enlargement represents a challenge for the decision-making process – the effectiveness of which cannot be guaranteed without institutional reform.
On this subject, MEPs are waiting to hear what measures Marta Kos intends to propose in order to “ensure that an enlarged Union is able to function efficiently and has the adequate capacity to absorb new members and to promote their successful integration”.
Very active in foreign affairs but confined to the role of observer, the European Parliament wants to ensure that its positions “are duly taken into account” by the future commissioner in proposals for legal acts and in EU communications and strategies. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)