At 14:30 to 17:30 local time, the hearing of the Cypriot candidate for the next European Commission, Costas Kadi, who has been selected by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to take over the portfolio, will take place on Wednesday afternoon in Brussels of the Commissioner of Fisheries and Oceans (15:30 – 18:30 Cyprus time).
Mr Kadis will answer written questions from members of the Parliament's Committees on Fisheries (PECH) and Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) in his introductory speech before being called upon to answer a series of oral questions from MEPs on all portfolio issues of.
The hearing will be broadcast live through the website of the European Parliament at https://elections.europa.eu/european-commission/en/kadis/, where the written answers of Mr. Kadis to the written questions of the PECH committees and ENVI, as well as the declaration of financial interests it has filed.
After the completion of the hearing, the members of the two committees will hold a closed session where they will assess the suitability of the candidate to take up a position in the Commission, as well as his suitability and preparation for the specific position. The final decision on whether the green light will be given to Mr. Kadi, however, is taken only by the MEPs of PECH, as ENVI participates as invited guests.
Ten hearings had taken place by Tuesday night, with most candidates getting approval from MEPs to move on to the next stage. However, a decision on Sweden's candidate, Jessica Rosvall (Environment, Water Resilience and Competitive Circular Economy), after a partly contentious hearing is expected later in the afternoon. The candidate may be asked to answer additional questions in writing, without excluding a second hearing.
The hearings will continue on Thursday with the hearings of four candidates and on Tuesday, November 12, with the hearings of the six candidates for executive vice-presidents of the Commission. The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament (President Metsolas and leaders of political groups) will then take into account the assessments of all parliamentary committees on all candidates at a meeting on 21 November. As long as the Conference of Presidents finds that all the candidates have a positive evaluation from the MEPs, it will be able to judge that the process has been completed and bring the new Commission for approval as a whole in the Plenary on November 25-28 in Strasbourg.
In addition to Mr. Kadi, on Wednesday, the third day of the hearings, five more candidate Commissioners will appear before the competent parliamentary committees:
Belgium's Hadja Labib (Commissioner-designate for crisis preparedness and management) will appear before the committees on Development (DEVE), Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), and ENVI between 9: 00 – 12:00 (local time, 10:00 – 13:00 Cyprus time).
The Portuguese Maria Albuquerque (commissioner-designate for financial affairs and the Union of Deposits and Investments ) will appear before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Policy (ECON) between 9:00 – 12:00.
The Czech Jozef Sikela (Commissioner-designate for International Partnerships) will appear before the DEVE committee between 14:30 – 17:30 (local time, 15:30 – 18:30 Cyprus time).
Lithuanian Andrius Kubilius (Commissioner-designate for Defense and Space) will appear before the Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) committees between 18:30 – 21:30 (local time, 19:30 – 22:30) XNUMX Cyprus time).
Hungarian Oliver Vareli (Commissioner-designate for animal health and welfare) will appear before ENVI and the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee (AGRI) between 14:30 – 17:30 (local time).
On Monday, the hearings of Slovak Maros Šefčović (Trade and Economic Security), Maltese Glenn Micallef (Intergenerational Relations, Youth, Culture and Sports), Luxembourg's Christophe Hansen (Agriculture and Food) and Greek Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Sustainable Transport and Tourism) took place ), and on Tuesday the hearings of the Irishman Michael Magrath (Democracy, Justice and Rule of Law), the Bulgarian Ekaterina Zaharieva (Start-ups, Research and Innovation), the Danish Dan Jorgensen (Energy and Housing), the Croatian Dubravka Suica (Mediterranean) , Sweden's Jessica Rosvall (Environment, Water Resilience and Competitive Circular Economy) and Austria's Magnus Brunner (Home Affairs and Migration).
