First EU top team candidates face tough questioning in parliament

Lawmakers started grilling would-be members of the next European Commission on Monday, setting up a decisive vote on Ursula von der Leyen's new top team at the end of this month.

The showdown is a rare opportunity for the European Union parliament to flex its muscles against the bloc's powerful executive -- and the outside chance a candidate may stumble has kept Brussels on its toes.

Each of the EU's 27 nations receives one seat on the commission, which drafts and enforces European law on key issues such as trade, competition and technology.

Commissioner-designates each face a three-hour quizzing by lawmakers in a process that lasts until Thursday  before a grand finale on November 12 when von der Leyen's six vice-president candidates will be heard.

The first two up, on Monday afternoon, were Maros Sefcovic of Slovakia and Glenn Micallef of Malta.

Sefcovic, who oversaw work on the EU's landmark Green Deal in the outgoing commission, is expected to take over as head of trade and economic security after a hearing that ended without much ado.

The 58-year-old declined to say when a trade deal between the EU and South America's Mercosur opposed by France will be signed -- but expressed hope it will be concluded on "fairgrounds".

At 35, Micallef is the most junior member of the team and relatively inexperienced. He was seen as one of the most vulnerable candidates, but his hearing also appeared to go smoothly.

He started by telling lawmakers that in a "twist of fate" he began his European career as an intern at the very parliament that was now vetting his credentials, before composedly answering all questions.

Asked by a right-wing lawmaker to define a woman and whether the EU wanted men to be allowed to compete in women's sports -- a nod to the hot-button issue of transgender rights -- he simply replied that sport was "for everyone".

  No 'kill list'  

Once a hearing is over, lawmakers decide whether to approve the candidate's nomination, send additional questions or request a second hearing.

A quick green light for Micallef and Sefcovic could signal that parliamentary groups are unwilling to turn the process into a political fight -- with a risk of chain reactions if they go too heavy on a candidate from a rival party.

"I do see the possibility that everyone is so afraid of each other that in the end we will keep the original proposal," Bas Eickhout of the Greens, said ahead of the first hearings.

More than half the nominees hail from von der Leyen's conservative European People's Party, the biggest force in parliament.

Re-elected to a second term following June's elections, the 66-year-old German in September allocated portfolios based on experience as well as political and national clout.

The centrist Renew Europe said it will examine each candidate on their merits, as did the Socialists and Democrats -- the second largest group in parliament -- who insist they have no "kill list".

Still, some fireworks are expected next week for the auditions of Spain's Teresa Ribera and Italy's Raffaele Fitto.

Ribera, a socialist who has a vast environmental portfolio, will have to reassure sceptical right-wingers of her commitment to pair climate goals with growth.

Fitto, of Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party, was handed a vice president role in a nod to the growing influence of the far-right after their gains in EU elections.

The move infuriated lawmakers on the left and centre -- who will be tempted to give him a public dressing down, although the initial hostility seems to have tempered.

Among others seen at risk is Hungary's Oliver Varhelyi, nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's man in Brussels these past five years who was caught on hot mic calling lawmakers "idiots".

  'Laser-focused' 

 Incoming commissioners are said to have studied hard to pass the test.

"My commissioner is laser-focused. It's like preparing for an exam," said one associate on condition of anonymity, describing mock hearings where experts try to push the candidate into a corner.

Last time, lawmakers knocked back France's Sylvie Goulard at the hearing stage, while the representatives for Hungary and Romania were axed during vetting for conflicts of interest.

Parliament is provisionally scheduled to vote on confirming the entire college of commissioners on November 27 and they would start a five-year term in early December.