Commissioners — and the cordon sanitaire — are shaking

HELLO. It’s been a week of low drama (we all knew the hearings were going to start in November before it was announced officially) and high drama (the start of the hearings process, with the Parliament’s legal affairs committee going through the Commission nominees’ declarations of interest). That process ain’t over, so let’s take you through what happened…
JUDGE AND JURI? The Parliament’s legal affairs committee has been running background checks on the wannabe European commissioners this week, culminating in a meeting on Thursday that one MEP told me was “mayhem.”
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: The wannabees were dealt with in alphabetical order (that’s Portugal’s Maria Luís Albuquerque first and Bulgaria’s Ekaterina Zaharieva last) and only three were given a clean bill of financial health straightaway. One has just served a full term in the Commission (Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi); one was a commissioner for part of the last mandate (the Netherlands’ Wopke Hoekstra); and one’s a newbie (Poland’s Piotr Serafin).
23 IS NOT THE MAGIC NUMBER: That means 23 nominees have more work to do and will get a set of general questions. In the majority of cases that’s because the form wasn’t filled out in enough detail (remember that the prospective commissioners have to fill in these forms themselves, so some may have missed off interesting stuff and others may have misunderstood the exercise).
YOU’RE WELCOME: We feel the JURI committee’s pain after getting hold of every single declaration of interest and going through them looking for interesting details. Here’s what we found out (which you can also read in French if that’s your cup of tea or coffee).
ITS ALL ABOUT POLITICS: The legal affairs committee members are supposed to objectively scrutinize the commissioners’ declarations to find conflicts of interest. But that does not mean there aren’t political games being played. And the stakes are high — don’t forget that the committee can topple a commissioner(s), just ask Romania’s Rovana Plumb and Hungary’s László Trócsányi, who fell at this stage last time out.
Detective for a week: I have talked to many MEPs and assistants who confirm they are all coming up with their own red flags for each commissioner. Unknown debts, undeclared income, and suspect loans are all examples of the ammunition that political groups are stockpiling.
Active versus passive: Three MEPs present in Thursday’s meeting confirmed the European People’s Party was rather passive and opposed (at first) to sending too many questions to the commissioners, as the center-right faction wants the Commission to start work as soon as possible and fears delays if candidates are brought down. “Politically speaking, EPP opposed to ask for more details, but at the end they agreed,” said one of the lawmakers. Socialists, Renew, Greens, and Patriots “were active during the meeting to ask for further information to the candidates,” an email circulated within the Green group reads.
Polishing the gun: The EPP, however, is also preparing its own dossiers, one MEP explained, and building up material about Roxana Mînzatu, the Socialist nominated as executive vice-president for people, skills, and preparedness, in case the S&D targets one of the EPP commissioners.
NEW MAJORITIES TO THE FORE, AGAIN: During a meeting of the political group leaders, the center-right European People’s Party sided with the European Conservatives and Reformists and the Patriots for Europe to block the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs from having responsibility over Finnish commissioner-designate Henna Virkkunen’s hearing, according to two officials. Plus, the EPP, alongside the three groups to its right (ECR, Patriots and Europe of Sovereign Nations), also opposed a proposal to add the words “wars in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon” to a debate on foreign affairs in next week’s plenary, an S&D spokesperson told Brussels Playbook.
Remember Venezuela? The first sign of these new majorities took place two weeks ago when the EPP sided with right-wing and far-right forces to pass a resolution recognizing Edmundo González as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
THE CORDON SANITAIRE REMAINS (SORT OF): While the EPP may have smashed the cordon sanitaire for certain items, it still upholds it for leadership positions. During the week, the Patriots for Europe —Parliament’s third biggest group — was stripped of its allocated positions as chars and vice-chairs of interparliamentary delagations, such as the co-chairmanship of the Africa delegation.
Outraged 2.0: Having already filed a lawsuit against Parliament to denounce their exclusion from committee leadership positions back in July, excluding them again “is not only breaking the rules, but is dismissing the will of millions of European citizens,” the Patriots said on X. “This is just another clear and despicable example that nothing is more important to the immoral and shameful liberal bloc with the support of the EPP group than to hold on to power regardless of the will of the European people.”
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GRAB YOUR POPCORN: The European Parliament will start grilling Commission nominees on Nov. 4 and go on until Nov. 12. The hearings will all be at least three hours long, about the same length as “Oppenheimer” and we’re sure will be just as dramatic.
WHAT A WASTE: Costas Kadis, Cyprus’ former environment minister, is hoping to become the next commissioner for oceans and fisheries. But first he’ll have to explain his role in a botched, EU-funded waste treatment project. Marianne Gros and Nektaria Stamouli have the details.
ANDIAMO: The EU’s outgoing economy commissioner, the Italian socialist Paolo Gentiloni, put party loyalties aside to back right-winger and fellow countryman Raffaele Fitto for a plum gig as executive vice president of the European Commission. Read more in Gentiloni’s interview with our Gregorio Sorgi.
GOOD LUCK: Poland’s Piotr Serafin was nominated for what just might be the EU’s hardest job: Budget commissioner. As one EU diplomat told us, it’s an “almost impossible” gig — but if anyone can do it, it’s Serafin.
OUTGUNNED: Lithuanian Commission nominee Andrius Kubilius is yet to step into the EU’s newly created role of defense commissioner and he’s already playing second fiddle to the bloc’s real leader on defense: Armin Papperger, boss of German arms giant Rheinmetall (and sometime target of Russian assassins).
COMMISSIONER FOR CONDEMNATION: The EU’s top diplomat is on his way out, so we took a look at some of the many, many (many) times this year Josep Borrell issued forceful condemnations on various matters. Has his constant opprobrium achieved anything? Or has it all just been futile posturing? You decide.
GOT ALL THE ANSWERS? Have you been paying attention to the week’s news? Take our weekly news quiz to find out how much has sunk in.
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Current excitement level: I hope I don’t get the seasonal flu that’s going around. It would be a shame to miss the Strasbourg session next week and especially Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech. Take care!
Last word: “It’s a fake process because it’s done beyond closed doors,” was the verdict of Manon Aubry of The Left on the lack of transparency in the process of conducting background checks.
Thanks to: Seb Starcevic, Elisa Braun, Paul Dallison and Lola Boom.
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