Parliament's confirmation hearings of the Commissioners-designate
European Parliamentary Research Service
Facts. Analysis. Insight. Foresight. We (EPRS) are the in-house research service of the European Parliament.
With Ursula von der Leyen having announced the names of her Commissioners-designate in September, along with their proposed portfolios, the candidates have now had several weeks to learn about their new tasks. The next step in the appointment process will see the candidates face confirmation hearings before the European Parliament's committees, in advance of Parliament's vote on the College of Commissioners as a whole.
This decisive step in the investiture process is Parliament's opportunity to probe each candidate's suitability for the tasks set for them, before it decides whether to endorse the composition of the College of Commissioners proposed by its President-elect. The rules for this process were recently adapted and modernised. To speed-up decisions, Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee first scrutinises candidates' declarations of financial interests, to bring possible conflicts of interest to light. The Committee announced on 10?October that it had completed this scrutiny process, with no candidate found to have a conflict of interest on the basis of the information submitted by them to Parliament.
Each Commissioner-designate will now appear before the parliamentary committee or committees responsible for their portfolio area. Ursula?von?der?Leyen's new proposed College structure has made this a complex web, as many of the portfolios overlap. Although under the Treaties Parliament can only reject or accept the College as a whole, Members have reshaped the Commission College in the past, insisting that controversial candidates are replaced or portfolios adjusted. The confirmation hearings are therefore a major tool in Parliament's effort to hold the Commission to account.
The 2024 hearings are scheduled to take place from 4?to 12?November, at the European Parliament in Brussels. The first to be heard will be Maro???ef?ovi?, who will be responsible for relations with Parliament. The final day, 12?November, will see hearings of all the Executive Vice-Presidents and the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy/Vice President. Prior to the three-hour public hearings, each candidate must respond to written questionnaires from the committee(s) that are to conduct the hearings. Each nominee is expected to demonstrate their suitability for a post in the Commission in general, and their competence for the specific portfolio allocated to them.
This set of briefings, listed below, provides a brief biography of each candidate, and an overview of the portfolio and the key issues and recent developments in the policy area concerned.
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Voting on the Commission's investiture is not the only way Parliament holds the Commission to account. However, Parliament's right to dismiss the Commission as a collective body – the 'nuclear option' of the motion of censure, has never been used to date. The mere threat of its use led to the entire Santer Commission resigning in 1999. The Parliament also questions the Commission throughout the legislative period, and can set up committees of inquiry and special committees, it also scrutinises the Commission's delegated decision-making, and grants (or withholds) discharge following on from the annual EU budgetary procedure.