The “green light” to schedule the hearings for all 26 designated commissioners was given a while ago by the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament, as it announced the completion of the check for conflicts of interest of the prospective members who will be invited to form the new European Commission.

In other words, the MEPs of the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) have completed the process of examining any conflicts of interest for the commissioners-designate, in relation to their respective portfolios, and now the next step in the process is the hearings, as each nominee /you commissioner will appear before the competent committees of the European Parliament. The hearings are scheduled to take place from November 4 to 12.

According to the European Parliament’s regulation, the Committee on Legal Affairs is responsible for assessing potential or actual conflicts of interest of each Commissioner-designate and the process is confidential and its positive outcome (which is confirmed in writing) is a condition for the candidates’ participation at the hearings in the European Parliament. Also, as planned, the declarations of interest submitted for consideration will be posted on the special website before the hearings begin.

Following the conclusion of the process, the Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew, Bulgaria) said: “Our Committee carried out an impartial and in-depth analysis of the declarations of interest of the appointed Commissioners, examining possible conflicts in relation to the assigned portfolios. Where we judged the information to be incomplete, we requested further details in order to assess all relevant evidence and reach our conclusions.”

He added that “from a procedural point of view, some reasonable criticism of the existing legal framework may arise, which we will have the opportunity to analyze and propose amendments if necessary”, underlining, as he said, that “today I want to express the my gratitude to all the MEPs of the JURI committee for actively participating in the process and safeguarding the interests not only of the Commission and the Parliament, but above all of the European citizens, through a thorough examination of all the data and information available to us.”

“I am pleased that our Committee, along with all other parliamentary committees, will now be able to focus on the hearings of the Commissioners-designate,” he concluded in his statement.