Brussels, 16/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - At a press conference on Thursday evening with EP President Cox (see below), Joseph Daul chair of the Conference of Committee chairmen (and agriculture committee) said that the hearings of Jacques Barrot (successor to Michel Barnier, Institutional matters and Cohesion Commissioner, now French Foreign Affairs Minister) and Joaquin Almunia (successor to Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes, now Spanish Economy and Finance Minister) would take place on 26 or 27 April. The two new Commissioners who will take over their dossiers immediately (unlike the accession country Commissioners) will attend a hearing before the competent EP committees, said Mr Daul.
Stavros Dimas, taking over from Anna Diamantopoulou as Social Affairs Employment and Equality Commissioner, has already been heard by the Social Affairs Committee (see EUROPE of 1 April, p.9).