Parliament maps out schedule for hearings
Confirmation hearings for European Commission nominees scheduled to take place in late September/early October.
European Parliament confirmation hearings of 27 nominees to the next European Commission will be held over six days between Monday 29 September and Tuesday 7 October, according to a leaked draft schedule.
There will be three sessions of hearings each day – morning, afternoon and evening – with two hearings taking place at the same time in most of those sessions.
According to the draft, seen by European Voice, hearings of commissioner nominees will begin on Monday 29 September with Karmenu Vella (environment and fisheries) and Cecilia Malmström (trade). Nominees to become vice-presidents will be questioned last, on 6 and 7 October.
Each day will be divided into three shifts lasting for three hours each. The timetable is similar to the last commissioner hearings, conducted in January 2010, when the schedule was compressed because of delays in the formation of the college caused by ratification of the Lisbon treaty.
The draft was agreed at a meeting of committee chairs in Strasbourg. It has still to be approved by the conference of presidents – the Parliament’s group leaders – on Thursday (18 September). The group leaders can make changes to the schedule and the composition.
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The question of which committees will question which nominees has turned into a struggle as committees jostle for influence. The tension has been heightened this time because of structural changes in which vice-presidents will oversee broad subject areas.
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According to the draft, Finland’s Jyrki Katainen, put forward as vice-president for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, will be facing questions from five committees. The main committees will be the economics, employment, and industry committees, with additional questions from the transport and regional development committees.
Frans Timmermans, the Dutch nominee to become first vice-president for better regulation, inter-institutional relations, rule of law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, will be questioned by four committees. This will also be the case for Vĕra Jourova, the Czech nominee to be commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, and Günther Oettinger, the German nominee to be commissioner for digital economy and society.
The political group leaders may make significant changes to the schedule on Thursday. There has been a squabble over the past week between the conference of committee chairs and the conference of presidents over who will set the schedule.