The European commissioners of Ursula von der Leyen’s new team successfully began their final hearings in front of the European Parliament on Monday November 4 in Brussels, before a final vote expected on November 27. Four first contenders were confirmed by MEPs during this day: the Slovak Maros Sefcovic (commerce), the Maltese Glenn Micallef (youth, culture and sport), the Luxembourger Christophe Hansen (agriculture) and the Greek Apostolos Tzitzikostas (transport).
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Comfortable in the exercise, they avoided annoying questions. Maros Sefcovic, for example, was careful not to give a timetable for the signing of the controversial free trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries – Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia – which is contested France and which arouses the anger of farmers in Europe.
Negotiations « techniques » are in progress. “I hope that this agreement can be concluded on a very fair basis”procrastinated the 58-year-old Slovak, accustomed to this grand oral exercise since he has been European Commissioner since 2009.
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Mr. Hansen’s hearing was marked by an emotional moment. After a question about the suffering of farmers, he told MEPs about the death of his farmer brother, who fell down the stairs last year at the age of 55. “I’m sure it was linked to many factors that affect farmers”like the “financial difficulties” and fatigue, he testified, affected.
November 12, the most anticipated day
Responsible for transport, the Greek Apostolos Tzitzikostas, for his part, promised to put on the table in 2025 a proposal for a single train reservation system on an EU scale.
The most anticipated day will take place on November 12 with the hearings of the six potential vice-presidents, including the Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné and the Italian Raffaele Fitto. The latter is at the heart of a controversy due to his membership of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party.
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After each three-hour grand oral, parliamentarians endorse or challenge the putative commissioners, in one of the rare moments when MEPs can assert their authority in the face of a Commission whose omnipotence regularly annoys them. In 2019, three candidates were rejected, including French centrist Sylvie Goulard, a snub for President Emmanuel Macron.
A final and overall vote on the new team is then planned for Wednesday November 27 during a plenary session of Parliament in Strasbourg. And the European executive is expected to take office at the beginning of December, lasting until 2029.
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The grand oral exercise is a subtle balance of powers between European institutions, Member States and political forces represented in Parliament.
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