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Five commissioners in balance (Maj)

(BRUSSELS2) In the European Parliament, everyone is sharpening their knives. And a big bargain is taking place this week between political groups... Because, in addition to Pierre Moscovici (read: Moscovici too fair for his first audition. Sentenced to catch up), four other commissioners are, in fact, (for the moment) in the hot seat, all on the right. (Update*)

Le British Lord Hill (ECR, Financial Services)

Excellent in form (as a speaker in the House of Lords can be), he was not enthusiastic about substance, not having really shown any interest in doing the job, deepening the regulation of the financial markets. He was more tempted to say "stop" to the regulations. He is summoned for a new hearing. The assessment was " suspended until rehearing confirmed Roberto Gualtieri, chairman of the EcofIn parliamentary committee. " We expect better qualifications on specific issues during this hearing ". A letter requesting certain clarifications is sent. And a new audition — a new exchange of views with coordinators and members of the Commission” is expected early next week (Monday normally).

Le Hungarian Tibor Navracsics (EPP, Education & Culture)

His exchange with the deputies showed a rather brilliant politician, both in substance and in form. But Navracsics was a former justice minister under Viktor Orban. He was not convinced both of the distance he could take from his former mentor and of his responsibility for the disputed reforms in Hungary. He is first required to respond to a series of written responses before a decision (Monday), or even a possible hearing.

Tibor Navracsics (Credit: EBS/B2)
Tibor Navracsics (Credit: EBS/B2)

L'Spanish Arias Canete (EPP, Climate & Energy)

This is probably the most problematic case on a personal level. His family (his brother-in-law) is a manager of oil companies, in which he had shares (sold since he assures), but he considers not to be involved. His declaration of interests has since been amended. The Legal Committee must look into his case.

La Czech Vera Jourova (ALDE, Justice & Consumers)

Very tense during her audition, the Czech had apparently not worked enough on her files and largely underestimated the difficulty of the exercise. She was sentenced to the same work at home (answering written questions), with the evaluation postponed until Monday.

Vera Jourova, tense during the hearing, not daring to look at the deputies (Credit: EBS / B2)
Vera Jourova, tense during the hearing, not daring to look at the deputies (Credit: EBS / B2)

Nb: In this list, we do not find the Maltese Karmenu Vella, in charge of the Environment and Fisheries, whose performance was not really brilliant but who managed to pass before the "storm" and with the mention "passable " his hearing, as well as Commissioner Malmström who made what can be described as a "hesitating waltz" on the question of the ISDS system in the transatlantic treaty.

Recovery hearings on Monday with 4 vice-presidents — Valdis Dombrovskis, Alenka Bratusek (who could have a hard time), Andrus Ansip, Federica Mogherini (whom we will be following in particular, as future High Representative) — and on Tuesday with the last 2 — Jyrki Katainen, Frans Timmermans —. K. Georgieva already passed the test on Thursday.

A few remarks and a question: Failure or not for the Juncker Commission?

The question can be discussed. That the entire college is not retained may, first and foremost, actually appear to be a failure for Jean-Claude Juncker. And that puts him, unquestionably, in a difficult position. But we can also notice that among the "wonderful", we find the two commissioners coming from governments (United Kingdom, Hungary) who did not support Juncker... Surely a coincidence! And two others of those who failed come from governments (Spain, France) which persisted in proposing "one" candidate, without proposing several or women, and aiming for a particular post (especially on the French side). Another coincidence no doubt...

We can also notice that the candidates that Juncker (really) wanted have so far passed the test well, often with flying colors. This was the case of the Belgian Marianne Thyssen (Social Affairs) for example, of the Danish Vestager (Competition), of the Romanian Cretu (Regional policy, which knew how to avoid the pitfalls) or of the Bulgarian Georgieva (Budget). All received the "congratulations of the jury". The candidates, really pushed by Jean-Claude Juncker, succeeded. And in passing, we will notice that the women have, on this point, with one exception, been more successful than the men (only one failed for every 4 men). (No comment. Thank you 🙂

The personal impression of this exercise is that in a somewhat Machiavellian way, "shaking up" a few commissioners suits the European Parliament just as much as JC Juncker's entourage, especially when it is not directly aimed at "his" favourites. But that we must be careful not to let the matches flare up and that the time has perhaps come for appeasement.

In the end, if everything ends more or less well, and the exercise does not arouse additional enthusiasm from parliament, we can be happy that

• the Parliament was able to strengthen its role by subjecting several commissioners to questioning, even if the game was sometimes political. After all, it is the role of Parliament to perform this function as well. It is not an impartial tribunal of skills. But a political body of appreciation.

• The President of the Commission will have played his role by rebalancing certain powers and will thus have strengthened his power over a few Member States that are not very disciplined or too demanding.

• The rather delicate and complex mechanism of the commission with vice-presidents (without direct administration, except 1) and commissioners (under the thumb of the vice-presidents), may have acquired additional utility. Allow rebalancing of functions, transfers of files, without having to completely overhaul the entire building.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

(*) This article has been separated from the previous one - for ease of reading and to allow additional analyzes

Read also on B2 Club (subscribers): Jean-Claude Juncker worried, is preparing for some changes

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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