EU lawmakers grill candidates who will drive policy for the next 5 years

BRUSSELS — Nominees for some of the European Union’s top jobs faced parliamentary hearings on Monday, as lawmakers start to vet would-be commissioners to oversee Europe-wide policies ranging from agriculture to trade for the next five years.

Four of the 26 new members of the EU’s increasingly powerful executive branch, the European Commission, were each to undergo a three-hour grilling by senior lawmakers most closely linked to their policy files. The others will be heard through to Nov. 12.

The commission is the only EU body with the power to draft laws which, once passed by the European Parliament and the 27 member countries. They cover everything from water quality to data protection to competition or migration policy.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, now into her second term leading an institution with more than 33,000 employees, assembled her new-look executive in September, seeking to balance sensitive political, geographical and gender concerns.

The candidates, who are nominated by their national governments, must prove their general competence to handle their portfolio, a commitment to the European project, independence and good communications skills.

A first candidate to make his case was Glenn Micallef — the would-be commissioner for youth, culture and sport — who hails from Malta, the EU’s smallest country. Slovakia’s Maroš Šefčovič, who has served as a commissioner in various capacities since 2009, was also questioned.

Some candidates are deemed not good enough. Lawmakers might reject others as a show of strength. Three were vetoed in 2019. Sometimes portfolios are switched among the commissioners, or their responsibilities redefined, to satisfy the parliament’s demands.

But a chain reaction could be set off should any group take umbrage at their candidate being rejected.

After each hearing, an evaluation is made by senior lawmakers behind closed doors. Candidates must win a two-thirds majority vote. If they don’t, the parliamentarians can ask additional questions in writing or request a further 90-minute grilling.

The vote results should remain secret until the entire hearing process ends next week. But given the high political stakes for each party group, lawmakers or parliament officials are almost certain to leak the news.

The European People’s Party (EPP) retained its position as the biggest group in the assembly following EU-wide elections in June. Fourteen members of its political family have been nominated to the commission, meaning that they have a good chance of passing muster. Von der Leyen is an EPP member.

Other pro-European parties of the political center lost votes as the hard right gained ground, and the EPP can operate without its usual allies if needed.

The EPP has already worked with the political extremes — including Italian Premier Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, which has neo-fascist roots, and stridently nationalist lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz — to secure majorities recently.

Meanwhile, the second-biggest group — the center-left Socialists and Democrats — seems ready to rubber-stamp von der Leyen’s team. Its leaders say it does not have a “kill list” of nominees that it intends to remove.

Given the strength the EPP and the alliances it can form, it’s unlikely that any nominees will be voted down. In that case, it’s possible that von der Leyen’s new commission would be able to start work in December.