European Parliament hearing of Commissioner-designate Zaharieva to be on November 5
The European Parliament hearing of Bulgarian European Commissioner-designate Ekaterina Zaharieva will be on November 5, the European Parliament announced on October 10.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen, announcing the line-up of her proposed second European Commission on September 17, nominated Zaharieva for the portfolio of startups, research and innovation.
The European Parliament announcement follows MEPs in the committee on legal affairs having (JURI) concluded the procedure of examining any conflicts of interest for the new Commissioners-designate in relation to their respective portfolios.
The process will now proceed with the confirmation hearings, as each Commissioner-designate will be heard in their respective committees in accordance with the calendar agreed by the European Parliament.
Declarations of interest submitted by the Commissioners-designate will become publicly available before the start of the confirmation hearings.
The hearings will take place from November 4 to 12.
European Parliament leaders adopted the written questions prepared by the different committees that Commissioners-designate should reply to by October 22.
Each hearing will be followed by a meeting in which the chairs of the committees and group representatives (coordinators) concerned will evaluate the performance of the Commissioner-designate they just heard.
After the completion of the evaluation process, the Conference of Committee Chairs will assess the outcome of all hearings and forward its recommendation to the Conference of Presidents. The latter will exchange views and decide whether to close the hearings in its meeting on November 21; it will also decide to place the vote on the College as a whole on the plenary agenda.
The full Commission needs to be elected by a simple majority of the votes cast in plenary, by roll call.
The vote is currently scheduled to take place during the November 25-28 session in Strasbourg.
(Archive photo: Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
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