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Ursula von der Leyen is preparing her team and asked her Commissioners to convince the European Parliament,but two Commissioners already rejected.
Before the designated Commissioners can take office, the European Parliament in Brussels should carefully examine skills and qualifications of the 26 new EU Commissioners to match the posts proposed for them.
First two victims
But for the first time EU rejects candidates, before their hearings.
The Romanian Rovana Plumb (PSD, S&D) and the Hungarian László Trócsányi (Fidez, PPE) rejected as new EU Commissioners by the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee that declared they are “unable to exercise their functions, on the grounds of conflicts of interest found when their declarations of financial interests were examined.”
MEPs voted by 13 to 7 to reject Plumb and Trócsányi.
It is not without suspicion that the internal policies of Romania and Hungary have made two excellent victims. The socialist area has took out the candidate of the Orban party in power in Hungary and PPE the lady expressed by the ruling socialists in Romania.
Romania and Hungary are replacing their candidates
Ursula von der Leyen, the new EU Commission President is now looking for the two new candidates.
- Orban seems to suggest Olivér Várhelyi, currently Hungary’s permanent representative to the EU.
- In Romania the debate is still open and it seems difficult to find a compromise between socialist prime minister Dăncilă and President Klaus Iohannis and the country’s opposition parties.
How the hearings are organized
Each candidate takes part in a three-hour hearing, streamed live, in front of the parliamentary committees responsible for the assigned portfolio.
Follows the list of designated Commissioners and their portfolio.
| Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia) | Interinstitutional relations and foresight |
| Phil Hogan (Ireland | Trade |
| Mariya Gabriel (Bulgaria) | Innovation and youth |
| Nicolas Schmit (Luxembourg) | Jobs |
| Jutta Urpilainen (Finland) | International partnerships |
| Janusz Wojciechowski (Poland) | Agriculture |
| Ylva Johansson (Sweden) | Home affairs |
| László Trócsányi (Hungary) | Neighbourhood and enlargement |
| Stella Kyriakides (Cypru | Health |
| Didier Reynders (Belgium) | Justice |
| Rovana Plumb (Romania) | Transport |
| Helena Dalli (Malta) | Equality |
| Sylvie Goulard (France) | Internal market |
| Elisa Ferreira (Portugal) | Cohesion and reforms |
| Janez Lenarčič (Slovenia) | Crisis management |
| Paolo Gentiloni (Italy) | Economy |
| Kadri Simson (Estonia) | Energy |
| Virginijus Sinkevičius (Lithuania) | Environment and oceans |
| Johannes Hahn (Austria) | Budget and administration |
| Margaritis Schinas (Greece) | Protecting our European way of life |
| Dubravka Šuica (Croatia) | Democracy and demography. |
| Věra Jourová (Czech Republic | Values and transparency |
| Josep Borrell (Spain) | EU foreign policy chief |
| Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia) | Financial services |
| Margrethe Vestager (Denmark) | Competition |
| Frans Timmermans (Netherlands) | European Green Deal |
Click on the banner below for the complete list, with bio, briefings, dates, timing of the Brussels auditions, started on Monday 30 Sept 2019, and links to the live streaming:
After the hearing, each responsible committees prepares its own evaluation, which is then submitted to the Conference of Presidents, the body composed of political group leaders and the President of the European Parliament.
Obviously, the hearings can lead to the withdrawal of a candidate or to a change in their portfolios. In 2014 Alenka Bratušek, who had been proposed for the energy portfolio, withdrew her candidacy following a negative evaluation by Parliament’s energy and environment committees.
Once the hearings are completed, Parliament will vote into office the new Commission. On this basis, the new EU Commissioners can start their mandate. This process, in turn, strengthens the legitimacy of the actions of the future EU executive.
Who is Ursula von der Leyen
The new EU Commission will take office from November 2019 and it will be lead by Ursula von der LEYEN (D, CDU), former German Minister of Defence and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Ursula von der LEYEN born and raised in Brussels, where her father worked for European Institutions. Then his father backed in Lower Saxony and elected Minister President.
She studied at London School of Economics and graduated as a physician from the Hanover Medical School in 1987. She lived with seven children and for four years in Stanford, California, where her husband was on faculty at Stanford University. She returned to Germany in 1996. She started politics and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005.
The Program of the elected EC President
On 16 July 2019 the European Parliament elected Ursula von der LEYEN the future President of the European Commission (EC). Follow the Political Guidelines for the next Commission (2019-2024) “A Union that strives for more: My agenda for Europe”, she presented to the European Parliament.
The Political Guidelines focus on six headline ambitions for Europe over the next five years and well beyond:
- A European Green Deal
- An economy that works for people
- A Europe fit for the digital age
- Protecting our European way of life
- A stronger Europe in the world
- A new push for European democracy
The EU have to face important problems which, if resolved, will make the European Union and its member states survive. The international challenges and the need of European societies to renew their economy and welfare must be faced at European level: no European country is able, on its own, to be able to compete on a global scale.
The European Commission, which has the right to initiate legislation and has an annual budget of about 170 billion euros, now has one of the most difficult tasks: to convince an increasingly skeptical public that the European Union is the real winning card.
The new European Commission will be in force for five years, starting in November 2019.
Paolo Licandro
