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 Maroš Šefčovič, 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.
- Maroš Šefčovič, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security and Commissioner for Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency
- Glenn Micallef, Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Culture, Youth and Sport
- Christophe Hansen, Commissioner for Agriculture and Food
- Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism
- Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law
- Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Research and Innovation
- Dan Jørgensen, Commissioner for Energy and Housing
- Dubravka Šuica, Commissioner for the Mediterranean
- Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy
- Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration
- Hadja Lahbib, Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management
- Maria Luís Albuquerque, Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investment Union
- Costas Kadis, Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans
- Jozef Síkela, Commissioner for International Partnerships
- Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defence and Space
- Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare
- Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth
- Marta Kos, Commissioner for Enlargement
- Piotr Serafin, Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration
- Valdis Dombrovskis, Commissioner for Economy and Productivity and Commissioner for Implementation and Simplification
- Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reform
- Kaja Kallas, High Representative / Vice President HR/VP
- Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness
- Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy
- Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition
- Henna Virkkunnen, Executive Vice-President for Tech-Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
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.
- Overview of the parliamentary hearings (infographic)
- Confirmation hearings of the Commissioners-designate: A decisive step in the investiture process
- The Commission as ‘caretaker administration’
- The European Parliament’s new Rules of Procedure: Parliament 2024 reforms
- The European Parliament’s powers: Motion of censure
- Timeline to the new EU Leadership
- The evolving powers of the European Parliament
- Setting the European political priorities 2024-2029
Download and keep this handy list with links to our briefings on all of Parliament’s prerogatives.
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