European Parliament inches toward commissioner hearings in November

BRUSSELS — The hearings for European commissioners look increasingly likely to be held from Nov. 4 to Nov. 12 after a majority of chairs of European Parliament committees backed those dates Tuesday.

A final decision will be taken Wednesday by the Conference of Presidents (CoP), the Parliament’s top decision-making body. The other option is to start the hearings in mid-October.

Holding the hearings in November would mean the earliest date for the Commission to start work is early December. It could even be delayed to January if the Parliament rejects several nominees and European Union capitals have to nominate replacements. 

Bernd Lange, the German MEP who heads the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC), “will summarize” Tuesday’s discussion “and bring both proposals to CoP, highlighting a clear majority in CCC for November,” said two parliamentary officials with knowledge of the process, granted anonymity to speak freely. 

The only faction pushing for a mid-October start date is the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), home of Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

However, the EPP has not been able to gather enough support as lawmakers want to ensure they have enough time to scrutinize the commissioners-designate before the hearings. 

“[EPP chair Manfred] Weber wants hearings in October, but he is isolated and has no majority,” said an EPP MEP, granted anonymity to speak freely. 

According to the current draft plan, the final deadline for committees to send written questions to the nominees is Oct. 10, with the answers sent back by Oct. 22.

The nominees will appear before the Parliament’s legal affairs committee before Oct. 18 for screenings on potential conflicts of interest, with the policy committees grilling the prospective commissioners from Nov. 4 to Nov. 12.

The CCC also discussed which committee will deal with which portfolio. One of the officials mentioned above said the economy committee demanded to be involved in the hearing of Stéphane Séjourné, the commissioner-designate for prosperity and industrial strategy, alongside the industry, internal market, and environment committees.