PARLIAMENTARY HEARINGS OF THE COMMISSIONERS-DESIGNATE

The hearings of the Commissioners-designate before the European Parliament's committees are a necessary ingredient in informing Parliament's decision to give its consent to, or reject, the proposed College. Each Commissioner-designate appears before a single hearing, involving one or more parliamentary committees, after responding to a written questionnaire and presenting his or her declaration of interests.

Criteria to be fulfilled by Commissioners-designate

The Lisbon Treaty did introduce changes in relation to the criteria to be used when selecting the members of the Commission. The Commissioners are to be selected taking into account their general competence and independence, but also their European commitment, a criterion introduced in the Lisbon Treaty. Independence, including from national governments, is a requirement clearly linked to the characterisation of the Commission as the EU institution promoting the general (and not national) interest of the Union (Article 17(3) TEU). Despite this, some authors suggest that Member States try to influence the Commission through the appointment of loyal Commissioners (i.e. persons belonging to the government party) or through nominations that would guarantee them an important portfolio for their Commissioner (i.e. nominations of senior or high-profile politicians).

Parliament’s Rules of Procedure include other criteria to be taken into account when evaluating the future Commissioners, that is to say, specific knowledge of the portfolio, communication skills and gender balance (Article 1, Annex VII).

Nominating the Commissioners

All Commissioners are proposed by the Member States' governments and nominated by the Council in common accord with the President elect of the Commission (Article 17(7) TEU). The composition of the Commission therefore does not usually reflect the political balance in the European Parliament but rather among national governments, with pan-European party politics playing a minor role in the selection of individual Commissioners-designate. This feature clearly distinguishes the EU’s institutional framework from parliamentary democracies, where the composition of the government tends to represent the majority in Parliament, to whom the national executive is also collectively responsible.

Hearings' of Commissioners are not stipulated in the Treaties, but required under Parliament's Rules of Procedure (Rule 125 and Annex VII). They are a necessary counterpart to the requirement of obtaining Parliament's consent, which would have no substance if Parliament could not examine the aptitude of the candidates.

The hearings procedure

The procedure for holding hearings is set out in Rule 125 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure and in Annex VII thereto. Once future Commissioners are nominated and taking into account the allocation of portfolios within the College, Commissioners-designate are requested by Parliament´s President to appear before the appropriate committees or bodies. The hearings are organized by the Conference of Presidents, on a recommendation from the Conference of Committee Chairs. The chair and coordinators of each committee are responsible for the detailed arrangements. Hearings are held in public and are broadcast live.

Examination of the declarations of interests of Commissioners-designate. 

Each Commissioner-designate is subject to a single hearing, but before that, the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee examines the declaration of financial interests presented by each Commissioner designate to confirm that there is no conflict of interests in connection with their future portfolio in the Commission.  According to the current Rules of Procedure, if the Legal Affairs Committee is not satisfied by the declaration of financial interests presented by a Commissioner-designate, it can request supplementary information and invite the Commissioner-designate to a discussion. If a conflict of interest were to be identified, the Legal Affairs Committee would draw up recommendations aimed at resolving the conflict and, as a last resort, may conclude that the Commissioner-designate would be unable to take up their duties at the Commission. In that case, the Rules of Procedure provide that Parliament’s President informs the President-elect of the Commission, who would decide on what steps to take. Although the consequences of a negative evaluation of the declaration of interest made by a Commissioner-designate are unclear, Parliament’s Rules of Procedure provide for the suspension of the appointment procedure as regards the specific Commissioner-designate until a solution to the conflict of interests is found or the President-elect decides on what steps to take. However, if the President-elect of the Commission were not to take note of the negative opinion, it could put at risk the approval of the whole Commission by Parliament.  Following Parliament’s calls to modify the 2011 Code of Conduct for Commissioners, the 2018 Code of Conduct broadened the scope of the declaration of interest that members of the Commission have to present to include, among other things, all financial interests of a value of more than €10 000 (regardless whether they are likely to constitute a conflict of interest); the financial interests of minor children, where those might be considered capable of giving rise to a conflict of interest; and membership of associations, political parties, trade unions, NGOs or other bodies if their activities are intended to influence or affect the exercise of public functions. Similarly, the new Code of Conduct provides for Commissioners-designate to make their declaration of interest available to Parliament in due time to allow its examination. 

Organisation of the hearings

Committee responsible and allocation of time. 

Once the Legal Affairs Committee has examined the declarations of Commissioners-designate, hearings take place before the appropriate committees or bodies. If the portfolio of a Commissioner designate falls within the remit of one parliamentary committee, only that committee will be involved in the hearing (committee responsible). Hearings may, however, involve more than one parliamentary committee. If the portfolio of a Commissioner-designate falls equally within the remit of more than one committee, he/she shall be heard jointly by those committees (joint committee). Conversely, if the portfolio of a Commissioner-designate is mainly within the remit of one committee and only to a limited extent within that of others, they will be heard by the committee mainly responsible, with the other committee(s) also participating (associated committees). The portfolios often fall across the remits of different parliamentary committees. For Commissioners-designate (or Vice-Presidents) with cross-cutting competences, a different format may be used provided that the committee responsible is involved. As it is impossible to involve all committees in individual hearings, even if the portfolio touches on their remit, Parliament proposed a different format following the 2014 experience: a meeting of the Conference of Presidents or of the Conference of Committee Chairs open to members of the committees responsible. Committees submit written questions to the Commissioners-designate before the hearings. Commissioners-designate receive two common questions drafted by the Conference of Committee Chairs. The first is on their general competence, European commitment and personal independence. The second is on the management of the portfolio and their cooperation with Parliament. The Committee responsible for the hearing drafts five policy-specific questions about their main priorities and legislative initiatives. In the case of joint committees, each may ask three questions. Sub-questions are not allowed. Associated committees only participate in the hearings, where they can ask oral questions. The curriculum vitae of the Commissioners-designate and their answers to the written questions are made available on Parliament’s website before the hearings.  Each hearing lasts three hours. Commissioners-designate make an opening statement of no more than 15 minutes. A session of questions and answers follows. Aiming to make hearings more flexible and dynamic, Parliament’s current Rules of Procedure provide for an oral hearing of up to 25 questions, with a follow-up question to be asked immediately by the same MEP within their allocated time. Speaking time is allocated to Members taking into account the size of each political group (including the non-attached Members), as required under Rule 171. In order to avoid repetition, questions are grouped by topic.

Commissioners-designate may also make a brief closing statement. Presidents-designate and Executive Vice-Presidents-designate will appear last, with the final day focusing on the latter three.

Questions

General competence, European Commission and Personal Indepence

1. What aspects of your personal qualifications and experience are particularly relevant for becoming a Commissioner and promoting the European general interest, particularly in the area you would be responsible for? What motivates you?
2. How will you  contribute to putting forward the strategic agenda of the Commission?
3. How will you implement gender mainstreaming and integrate a gender perspective into all policy areas of your portfolio?
4. What guarantees of indepence are you able to give the European Parliament and how would you make sure that any past, current or future activities you carry out could not cast doubt on the performance of your activities within the Commission?
5. In what respect would you consider yourself responsible and accountable to the Parliament for your actions and for those of your departments? What specific commitments are you prepared to make in teerms of enhanced transparency, increased cooperation and effective follow-up to Pqarliament's positions and requests for legislative initiatives? In relation to planned initiatives and ongoing procedures are you ready to provide Parliament with information and documents on an equal footing with the Council?