In this episode, we explain what will happen in the confirmation hearings for the nominees for the future European Commission, which begin on 4 November at the European Parliament. To work with Ursula von der Leyen, they will have to pass an "exam," known as a "grilling".
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00:00It is exam time in the European Parliament.
00:16This is one of the rooms where the so-called confirmation hearings will take place.
00:21The 26 nominees for the future European Commission will have to prove that they qualify to take
00:26on their portfolios.
00:31The process starts on November 4th and UDecoded will unpack it for you.
00:36Let's see the composition of the new team.
00:38If the 16 men and 11 women are approved by the Parliament in the confirmation process,
00:43there will be a 60-40% ratio of men to women.
00:47However, the President herself and four of her six Vice Presidents will be women.
00:56Around half, or 15 Commissioners, hail from the centre-right EPP.
01:00Five belong to the Socialists and Democrats and another five to the Liberal Renew.
01:06On the right wing, there is one member of the Patriots and one of the ECR.
01:12Each EU government nominates a Commissioner, but the Parliament will have the final word.
01:17We asked some citizens what they think about the process of grilling those nominees.
01:21Well, I think it's really important because at the end of the day, the Commissioners are
01:25indirectly elected, so it's not going through a popular process like the vote that is happening
01:30democratically.
01:31So I think that the fact that the European Parliament has a final say about the EU Commissioner
01:35is totally normal to say yes or no.
01:38So yeah, I think it's the essence of democracy in Europe.
01:41The more transparent the recruitment process is, especially in the European institutions,
01:47the better it is.
01:48I know it was Maria Luisa Albuquerque and I think she's a good fit for the job because
01:52she served as the Minister of Finance in Portugal during the subprime crisis.
01:58And only good Commissioners will be able to think about important and good reforms of
02:03the European Union.
02:04I know the person nominated from Cyprus, it's Mr Cadiz.
02:10He will be well performed in his duties and I think the Parliament will see that.
02:17To further decode this topic, I will now speak to my colleague, Roman Armango.
02:21Hello, Roman.
02:23Hi.
02:24So, you've been following this topic quite a lot.
02:27The first step in this parliamentary process involves checking for conflict of interests.
02:34Does the Committee actually have enough powers to investigate the financial declarations?
02:39Every Commissioner designated has to answer some kind of questionnaire, which is basically
02:44questions regarding positions they held in the past, regarding jobs but also outside
02:49of work, and also about their financial interests that they may have.
02:53But the problem that has been highlighted by a few MEPs is that actually, the Legal
02:58Affairs Committee doesn't have any investigative power, only rely on the answers that have
03:03been given by Commissioners designated.
03:05And they don't have an actual investigative power to know if they lie on the declaration
03:10or they forgot to put important elements.
03:14And what happens in the hearing process, like interviews, that are carried out by the Parliamentary
03:21Committees?
03:22Starting with a 15-minute presentation from the Commissioner presenting the priority followed
03:27by a Q&A by MEPs from the biggest to the smallest group, and finishing by a closing statement
03:32of the Commissioner designated.
03:35However, not all the MEPs are not interrogated, all the Commissioners.
03:40It is happening in the span of six days and divided by committees.
03:43For example, the Commissioner for Agriculture will be integrated by the Committees on Agriculture.
03:48How does the Parliament assess and vote on the nominees?
03:53So immediately after the hearings, a group of MEPs that took part in these hearings will
03:58gather and determine whether or not they were convinced by the performance of the Commissioner.
04:03If that's not the case, they can ask for further questions or another hearing, that this time
04:08will be a bit less long.
04:11And if they still don't agree after all of this process, they will have to go back to
04:15stage one and a member state will have to propose another candidate.
04:18But finally, they will have to go also to the plenaries to be voted on?
04:22Exactly.
04:23So once the 26 candidates have been approved by the European Parliament, they will gather
04:29in Strasbourg and the Member of the Parliament will vote by a simple majority on the entirety
04:35of the College of Commissioners.
04:37Thank you, Roman.
04:38Hearings can be a difficult test and sometimes candidates fail.
04:43Let's take the example of the latest hearings in 2019.
04:47Three candidates were rejected.
04:49László Trotsányi from Hungary failed at the stage regarding conflict of interests.
04:54The same reason was evoked for Rovana Plam from Romania, Sylvie Gaulert from France failed
05:00due to doubts about her integrity and expertise.
05:03On our decoding journey, I will now speak to a researcher from the Centre for European
05:08Policy Studies.
05:09Hello, Sofie Rossac.
05:10Hello.
05:11So the Parliament is quite polarised.
05:15How will they use this powerful tool over the Commission?
05:18I think it's important to know that what we see now is a bit of an institutional muscle
05:25flexing also on the side of the European Parliament, because they're aware that the power that
05:30they have over the Commission now is the biggest.
05:32And who are the most controversial nominees in these hearings, would you say?
05:38So the candidates that were widely discussed already for a while as being potentially in
05:44danger in the hearings is the Hungarian candidate, Olivi Vahely.
05:49He has been proven to be, let's say, quite a mouthpiece for Viktor Orban, which is something
05:54that the Parliament did not approve.
05:58And also the Slovenian candidate, Marta Kos, is said to be facing probably quite a difficult
06:03hearing because there were some cases of mismanagement in her time as an ambassador.
06:09And what we see is also, you know, an increasing party political tit for tat in this process.
06:15And that is particularly true for the Liberals and the SND, because they only have four college
06:20members in this Commission and there's 14 EPPs.
06:23So there is a clear EPP dominance in the next college.
06:27And so the worry is if the SND and Renew, if they're giving the EPP commissioners a
06:31hard time, then in return, their own commissioners might face difficulties.
06:37And some of the most prominent Renew and SND posts of the executive vice presidents are
06:43scheduled for the very end of the process.
06:45And one could read it in a way that the EPP is taking these candidates hostage in order
06:50to get their own candidates safely through the procedure.
06:54And what could be the impact of the rejection of some nominees during the hearings?
06:59Some member states, the head of state can decide is basically alone.
07:03So then it's going to be a very quick process.
07:04But in other member states, the parliament, the parliament or the European Affairs Committee,
07:09for instance, has to approve or the president has to approve next to the prime minister.
07:14So there is lots of internal procedure that might prolong the whole process.
07:18So it's really difficult to say.
07:19It might be that there's a quick turnover and that the commission can still start on
07:231st of December, but it might also delay the whole thing.
07:26Thank you very much, Sofia Rusak, for your participation on EU Decoded.
07:30You're welcome.
07:31Thanks for having me.
07:32Those who pass the grilling process will work in the Berlimont building, the commission's
07:37Brussels-based headquarters.
07:39The Jean Monnet Room on the 13th floor is where the executive meetings take place every
07:46week.
07:47The 27 commissions are also known as the College.
07:51Thanks for watching and don't miss next week's programme for more decoding of European Union
07:56policies.