The Commissioner-designate for Energy and Housing, Dan Jørgensen, received a favourable response from MEPs at the end of his confirmation hearing in the European Parliament on Tuesday 5 November (see EUROPE 13518/5), during which he seemed to make a strong impression.
At the evaluation meeting that followed the hearing in the evening, the coordinators of the political groups in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) voted in favour of appointing the Danish Socialist by the required two-thirds majority.
Only the Patriots for Europe group and two-thirds of The Left MEPs would have voted against.
For European socialists, this is a victory. Gaby Bischoff (S&D, German) highlighted how it was “an excellent performance”.
The ITRE coordinator for the EPP group, Christian Ehler (German), acknowledged that Mr Jørgensen “presented himself in a reasonable and well-prepared manner at the hearing (...) and showed himself to be a competent candidate for the job”. However, he regretted that the Commissioner-designate had not addressed the issue of hydrogen more fully, in particular the delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen.
For MEPs who are fervent defenders of nuclear power, such as the ITRE coordinator for Renew Europe, Christophe Grudler (French), the Dane has so far succeeded in reassuring them that the principle of “technological neutrality” will be respected, but a number of “inconsistencies” were highlighted during the hearing. They also expect more on the issue of European nuclear financing. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)