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 Sweden's Cecilia Malmstrom will be among the first group of
nominees to former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker's
new European Commission to face scrutiny from the European
Parliament.
Malmstrom will have to address concerns among consumer and
environmental groups and others that the EU's plan to create the
world's largest free trade area with the United States could
undermine European standards on data privacy, food safety and the
environment.
The public hearings, being held over the next nine days, could make
or break a plan to reshape the 28-nation EU under new management in
an attempt to revive the economy and regain trust among its
half-billion people.
Nominees for posts on the EU's executive Commission, which both
proposes EU laws and enforces compliance with them, will be
subjected to three-hour hearings that could wreck the line-up
proposed by Juncker.
The new team of 28 Commissioners, one for each EU country, includes
five former prime ministers. It is scheduled to take over from the
current team, led by Portugal's Jose Manuel Barroso, for a five-year
term starting Nov. 1.
Lawmakers are uneasy about several of Juncker's appointments and the
nominees from Britain, France, Spain and Hungary are expected to
undergo particularly tough cross-examination.
"We will make sure all the commissioners face a very demanding level
of scrutiny," Gianni Pittella, leader of the center-left Socialists
and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, said in a statement.
MISTRUST
The European Parliament can only approve or reject the new
Commission as a whole, in a vote scheduled for Oct. 22, but it has
used its veto power to oust some nominees in the past.
Two of Juncker's most controversial decisions were to give Britain's
Jonathan Hill control of banking and to put France's Pierre
Moscovici in charge of budget discipline.
German lawmakers do not trust a Socialist former French finance
minister to penalize his own country for breaching euro zone deficit
limits while the left doubts Conservative lobbyist Hill will curb
excess in the City of London financial center.
Hill's hearing is on Wednesday and Moscovici's on Thursday.
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Environmentalists are furious at the choice of Spain's Miguel Arias
Canete for a combined energy and climate change portfolio, despite
family interests in oil. His hearing is on Wednesday.
Tibor Navracsics from Hungary, whose brief covers education, culture
and citizenship, faces a rough time convincing lawmakers concerned
about his party's record on democracy.
Malmstrom ensured she would have a lively confirmation hearing by
suggesting in leaked written testimony to the parliament that she
wants to exclude a controversial investor protection clause from a
planned EU-U.S. free trade agreement.
Her statement pleased left-wing politicians who believe that
including a mechanism in the agreement that would allow foreign
companies to bring claims against a country if it breaches a trade
treaty would hand too much power to multinationals.
However, a European Commission source said Malmstrom's leaked
testimony was wrong and would be corrected.
So EU lawmakers will want to ascertain Malmstrom's real views on the
investor protection clause when her hearing starts at 2.30 p.m.
(0830 EDT).
Also facing questioning on Monday will be Malta's Karmenu Vella, put
in charge of environment and fisheries, Croatia's Neven Mimica,
responsible for international cooperation, and Germany's Guenther
Oettinger, who will deal with the digital economy in the new
Commission.
(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Barbara Lewis;
Editing by Eric Walsh)
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