On Tuesday, the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels had the last six hearings of the proposed European Commissioners and Vice-Presidents of the European Commission (EC).
After listening to them, the coordinators agreed to postpone everyone’s evaluations until later. EP spokeswoman Delphine Collardová confirmed this on the X social network, informs TASR reporter.
After last week’s hearing of the 20 proposed European Commissioners, the deputies postponed only the evaluation of the Hungarian nominee Olivér Várhélyi. His written answers to additional questions and their assessment are expected on Wednesday.
In the case of Roberto Fitt from Italy, the coordinators of the political groups from the committees for foreign policy and regional development agreed on the postponement of the evaluation. The proposed head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas from Estonia, was temporarily blocked by coordinators from the foreign policy committee.
In the case of Roxana Minzatuová from Romania, they were coordinators from the committees for social issues and culture. The problem was the property she bought in Romania. According to her own words, she does not belong to the protected monuments and can prove her integrity.
Coordinators from four committees (Industry, Single Market, Economic Development and Environment) postponed the evaluation meeting of Stéphane Séjourné from France. The coordinators from the single market and industry committees agreed on the postponement of the evaluation after hearing Henny Virkkunen from Finland in the evening. In the case of Teresa Riberová from Spain, coordinators from the committees for the environment, economic development and industry followed the same procedure.
According to sources from the EP environment, the postponement of the evaluation of the abilities of the last six candidates does not mean that they performed unconvincingly. It is rather an internal agreement between the political factions, and the evaluations can take place as early as Wednesday.
The Conference of EP Presidents will make a final evaluation based on the recommendations of the working committees and declare the hearings closed. It is expected by November 21.
Voting for the entire EC is scheduled for November 25-28 in Strasbourg. A majority of the present deputies will be sufficient for its approval.
