Šefčovič and MEPs share their mutual admiration

In truth, the confirmation hearing for Maroš Šefcovic, Slovakia’s commissioner-designate, was a bit of a love-in. He so impressed MEPs on Tuesday (30 September) that, by the end, one declared that there were no more questions to ask because he had covered everything in such detail. Admittedly, his admirer was from his own S&D group. But the admiration seemed to cut across political boundaries.

Šefcovič was, after all, the Commissioner who spent the most time at the European Parliament over the past five years, while in charge of inter-institutional relations. He is well-known and well-liked by MEPS. The feeling seemed to be mutual. At the end of the hearing Šefcovic, who has been designated the portfolio for transport and space, said the MEPs on the transport committee who had been questioning him were some of the most technically knowledgeable in the Parliament. What was genuinely impressive was how familiar he already was with his new policy area, despite having only been assigned it two weeks ago.

The transport and space portfolio has been seen as a bit of a demotion for Šefcovic, currently a vice-president. Yet – unlike Günther Oettinger, another current commissioner thought to have been disappointed with his portfolio – Šefcovic does not appear to have let it dampen his enthusiasm for the new post. He answered MEPs with a surprising level of technical specificity and spoke passionately about the need to overcome the obstacles that have blocked progress in uniting Europe’s transport networks.

Šefcovic was also well-versed in European space policy, which has been added to this portfolio. He was asked repeatedly about the mistake in August when Galileo satellites were accidentally launched into the wrong orbit. He assured MEPs that the EU was investigating what had gone wrong and would ensure it does not happen again. The commissioner showed a determination to see the fourth railway package passed quickly and said he is opposed into splitting it into technical and political pillars in order to pass the parts that are not politically sensitive.

“I don’t want to come before you with a fifth railway package,” he said. “I want this one to work for many years.” He was not a hit with all MEPs. Peter Lundgren, a Swedish MEP in the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group, criticised Šefcovic’s CV. “Since you were 18, I cannot see that you’ve actually spent a day in manual labour,” he says. “You have no practical experience, and you don’t have any knowledge of the problems in this sector. You grew up in an academic world.”

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Šefcovic was quick to respond. “I can assure you I know what is manual labour, because I was still growing up in the times when work in the factories was compulsory for every student. I had to do the same when I was studying in Russia. So I know what stress hard-working people are under.” UKIP MEP David Coburn criticised the EU’s space programme as a “pathetic attempt to compete with the Americans”, and a wasteful vanity project. “Clearly the financial markets are better equipped to deal with space,” he added. Šefcovic laughed off the criticism, but went on to give a serious answer.

“We need our independence and autonomy when it comes to access to space. It’s not because of prestige,” he said. “We need it for our intelligent transport system, we need it for our banking industry, we should not be only relying on one system [American GPS] because I think that Europe is mature enough and developed enough to now have our own system, which I know is very much supported by our American partners as well.”

The response drew enthusiastic applause from the MEPs. There was never any doubt that Šefcovic would be confirmed. But MEPs on the transport committee seemed to leave the hearing with more enthusiasm than they came in with. There was a real impression that they see Šefcovic’s appointment as a positive for their policy area.

Read the liveblog from the hearing – as it happened.