Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Political leaders in the EU Parliament to decide which parliamentary committees will hear which commissioners designate and specify a timetable for the upcoming hearings.
After days of discussion between committee chairs, a new proposal, on how to divide the commissioners-designate between the committees was spread. If the political leaders of the parliamentary groups support the proposal, an unusually high number of commissioners-designate will be heard by multiple committees in joint sessions.
What do EU parliament rules say about committee hearings?
The European Parliament‘s internal laws of procedure specify that a specific committee must hear commissioners-designate if their portfolio falls within that committee’s area of responsibility.
If the portfolio applies to more than one committee, a candidate will be heard by two or more committees in a joint session.
The European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure form how commissioners-designate are assessed based on their portfolios. Where a portfolio falls clearly within the competence of a single committee, the commissioner-designate will be heard by that committee alone. However, only the committees responsible for the hearings vote on the candidate’s consent. Invited committees observe the hearings and submit a letter of opinion.
How does the proposal reflect the complexity of commission portfolios?
The committee chairs’ proposed division of responsibilities reflects the interwoven nature of the new Commission’s portfolios, with several commissioners-designate placed to be scrutinised by more than two committees.
In 2019, only one commissioner-designate confronted hearings before three committees. A proposal already had four commissioners-designate being investigated by three or more committees in joint sessions.
In the fresh proposal, this number has grown to six. As Euractiv reported, committee chairs have also offered two timelines for the political leaders to pick from: one in which hearings commence in mid-October and another starting on 4 November. Parliamentary sources tell Euractiv that the leaders are anticipated to opt for the November timeline.
