The confirmation hearings for the final approval of the proposed European Commission have been set, the European Parliament announced in a press release on Thursday.
Belgium’s Hadja Lahbib’s confirmation hearing will take place from 9:00 to 12:00 on 6 November. The other Commissioner-designates will be heard between 4 and 12 November. The confirmation hearings will be live-streamed, according to the European Parliament.
Last month, von der Leyen presented her proposed team of commissioners, including former Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib (Renew Europe) as Commissioner for Preparedness, Crisis Management, and Equality.
Each commissioner-designate will appear before their relevant committees to present their programmes and answer questions from Members of the European Parliament (MEP). The confirmation hearings serve to assess whether proposed commissioners have the correct competencies to serve their posts in the next Commission.
Following the confirmation hearings, the commissioner-designate may then be asked to answer further questions or be invited for a resumed hearing.
If a commissioner-designate is unsuccessful, their Member State can withdraw and replace them with a new candidate, in agreement with the Commission President. The new candidate would then have to go through a new confirmation hearing.
The schedule of the confirmation hearings follows the conclusion of the examination of (potential) conflict of interests of the Commissioner-designates by the Legal Affairs Committee.
Ahead of each hearing, the CV of commissioner-designates, references to their portfolios, and responses to written questions will be published on the European Parliament’s website.
The plenary vote to elect the full Commission is currently scheduled for the November session, between 25 and 28 November, in Strasbourg. A simple majority of votes is needed.
