During a meeting on Wednesday afternoon (2 October), parliamentary group leaders approved a plan to begin hearings of Commissioners-designate on 4 November.
With the three-hour scrutiny sessions set to start in early November, the new Commission could, in theory, be sworn in on 1 December, provided no Commissioners are rejected.
Should one or more commissioners get rejected, the timeline would be moved to 1 January or possibly later as new member states will have to nominate new candidates, and a new round of parliamentary scrutiny start over.
In 2019, three commissioners were rejected after failing to get Parliament’s approval.
A document drafted by committee chiefs, viewed by Euractiv, was sent to parliament leaders on Tuesday evening (1 October).
It proposed a division of responsibilities between committees and two different timelines – one in which hearings begin in mid-October and another starting on 4 November.
On Wednesday afternoon, parliamentary leaders opted for the November timeline and approved the division of commissioners-designate proposed by committee chiefs with some changes.
A revisited division of responsibilities is expected to be published within the coming days.
In an enclosed letter seen by Euractiv sent to Parliament President Roberta Metsola (EPP), the head of the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC), Bernd Lange (S&D), underlined that beginning hearings already in mid-October would “jeopardise the quality of our preparation,” citing the complexity of commissioners’ portfolios.
Coming out of Wednesday’s meeting, Lange told reporters that the November timeline still leaves room for additional questioning.
According to the proposed schedule, Parliament would have to vote on the collective commission during a plenary sitting in late November for the new Commission to take office in early December.
Only the Parliament’s largest grouping, the centre-right EPP, favoured the earlier October timeline.
Leaving Wednesday’s meeting, EPP Chair Manfred Weber bemoaned his colleagues’ decision.
“We go for the week where the American elections take place. So the public perception will not be focused on the European Parliament,” he told reporters.
The US presidential election will take place on 5 November, the day after hearings are set to begin in the Parliament.
On Tuesday next week (8 October), the CCC will carve out the exact schedule for hearings in November.
Junior commissioners-designate are expected to be first in line, followed by executive vice-presidents on Monday and Tuesday the following week (11 and 12 November), parliamentary sources told Euractiv.
[Edited by Martina Monti]
Source: euractiv.com
