It's like an exam. In the impressive buildings of the European institutions in Brussels, there is an atmosphere of intensive negotiation of the material for the sustenance of the candidates for European commissioners. The future members of Ussrula von der Leyen's European Commission have one month to prepare for their career-defining hearings before the European Parliament.
EC president Von der Leyen presented in mid-September a team that should represent the new European executive in the next five years. But he still faces a significant challenge - the oral hearing of each European Commissioner by MEPs. It will be held from November 4 to 12, according to the schedule established yesterday.
Each candidate for commissioner - one from an EU member state - will be put to the fire of MEPs' questions for three hours, and then will be approved for the post or rejected during a vote. This is one of the rare moments in which the European Parliament can demonstrate its authority in front of a European Commission, whose omnipresent power often irritates MEPs.
"The candidate must show during the hearing that he is calm and aware of the matter without appearing arrogant," says an EP source. The candidate must detect which are the MEPs' preferred topics and show agility similar to a student analyzing the composition of the examination board before an exam, the source adds.
To prepare, the European Commissioners study an impressive handbook prepared for them by the European administration and containing the decisions that have been taken in the past and the big goals of the new mandate of the EC and the EP.
"This document is a gold mine," says an EC official. "Through it, the candidates try to anticipate the questions of the MEPs and prepare the answers. But the oral exam of the European commissioners is not a joke, it is a much more complicated job," she adds.
In 2019, three candidates for European commissioners were dropped, including the French Sylvie Goulard, which was a blow to President Emmanuel Macron.
In addition to the questions about the court case related to the parliamentary assistants of her Democratic Movement party, Gular also paid the price for a certain form of arrogance that she showed during her hearing, a parliamentary source said. "She behaved there as if she wanted to declare: "I am from France, I rule,", adds the source.
Before their hearing, the potential candidates for European Commissioners therefore have an interest in holding a series of meetings in order to present themselves to the MPs and to give them confidence in their personality.
In Brussels, France's candidate, the Macronist Stéphane Sejournet, is already working on this task, who was kicked out of Paris after the previous French European Commissioner, Thierry Breton, announced with a bang that he was giving up a second term. If approved, Séjournay will be in charge of the EU's industrial strategy. Now he is holding a meeting after Wednesday, first with the MEPs, his entourage says.
"The EP creates fear and that is good. This is how he gains more power in his relations with the EC", believes one of the vice-presidents of the EP, Yunus Omarge, who is from the French radical left "Disobedient France".
There are already rumors about some candidates for European commissioners who may be shaken up during the hearings.
A number of MEPs have not forgotten that Hungarian candidate Oliver Varhei called parliamentarians "idiots" when he forgot to turn off his microphone during his previous term as European Commissioner. Varhei's closeness to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also angers some.
But a diplomatic source urged caution on the matter. Oliver Varhey inherits a modest post in the new European Commission - that of animal health and welfare. If his candidacy is rejected, it will free Orbán's hands to ask for more from Brussels or push through on other issues.
Another delicate issue is that of Italy's candidate Raffaele Fito, who is a member of the Italian far-right party "Italian Picks" of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and who was elected Vice-President of the EC for Territorial Cohesion.
After Fito's nomination in mid-September, the left and the center issued a number of warnings about this choice, then they continued to add fuel to their fire. "Phyto is a problem for us. During the hearings, we expect commitments from him regarding European values and equality between all citizens, assured Irache García Pérez, chairman of the group of the Socialists and Democrats. in EP.
But without raising too much steam, because "Socialists and Democrats" they must also defend their candidates for European commissioners, including Spain's Teresa Ribera, whose hearing the right and far-right are eagerly awaiting to pick on her for her anti-nuclear positions.
If you reject the nomination of a candidate for commissioner, it could cause a chain reaction, warns a parliamentary source. "Political groups watch each other, following the logic: "If you touch my people, I will touch your people". Everyone, figuratively speaking, is armed. Not that anyone will pull the trigger, but we shouldn't be fooled,'' the source added.
"It's definitely stressful for commissioners because they're like pawns in a game they don't fully control,'' he adds.
Translation from French: Gabriela Golemanska, BTA