European elections 6-9 June 2024

Confirmation hearings for the European Commission

The first role for a newly elected President of the European Commission is to select candidate Commissioners based on nominations from each country in the EU. The Commission includes one Commissioner from every EU country and they are assigned responsibilities in different policy areas.

Confirmation hearings in Parliament

The European Parliament invites Commissioners-designate to appear before the appropriate committees for confirmation hearings in order to see if they are suitable for the posts they have been assigned to.

Members of the European Parliament will seek to assess in the confirmation hearings whether the Commissioners-designate have the independence, the competences and the European commitment to serve as members of the new European Commission.

Before the hearings, Parliament’s legal affairs committee examines the candidates’ declarations of interests to exclude any conflict of interests of a financial nature, which is a precondition for the holding of the hearing of a given candidate. Candidates also have to answer written questions prepared by the parliamentary committees.

The curriculum vitae of the Commissioners-designate, the references to their portfolios and their response to the written questions are published on Parliament’s website in advance of each confirmation hearing.

At the confirmation hearings, which are streamed live, Commissioners-designate present their programmes and answer oral questions from MEPs.

After the hearings, the committee chairs and political group representatives assess the candidates and prepare their evaluation letters. Commissioners-designate may be asked to answer more written questions or be invited for a resumed hearing.

An unsuccessful Commissioner-designate may be withdrawn by its member state and replaced by a new candidate in agreement with the Commission President. The new candidate has to go also through all the preparatory steps and a confirmation hearing in Parliament.

At the end of the process, the committees' evaluation letters are examined by the Conference of Committee Chairs and conveyed to the Conference of Presidents, a body composed of the President and the leaders of Parliament’s political groups, which can seek further information or declare the confirmation hearings closed.

Parliament vote on the Commission’s composition

Once the confirmation hearings are closed, the Commission President is invited to present the College of Commissioners-designate and its programme during a debate in plenary, following which the European Parliament votes on the Commission's College as a whole.

Commissioners-designate

Teresa RIBERA RODRÍGUEZ

Executive Vice-President

Spain

Clean, Just and Competitive Transition

Henna Maria VIRKKUNEN

Executive Vice-President

Finland

Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy

Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ

Executive Vice-President

France

Prosperity and Industrial Strategy

Kaja KALLAS

High Representative | Vice-President

Estonia

Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

Roxana MÎNZATU

Executive Vice-President

Romania

People, Skills and Preparedness

Raffaele FITTO

Executive Vice-President

Italy

Cohesion and Reforms

Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ

Commissioner

Slovakia

Trade and Economic Security

Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency

Valdis DOMBROVSKIS

Commissioner

Latvia

Economy and Productivity

Implementation and Simplification

Dubravka ŠUICA

Commissioner

Croatia

Mediterranean

Olivér VÁRHELYI

Commissioner

Hungary

Health and Animal Welfare

Wopke Bastiaan HOEKSTRA

Commissioner

Netherlands

Climate, Net-Zero and Clean Growth

Andrius KUBILIUS

Commissioner

Lithuania

Defence and Space

Marta KOS

Commissioner

Slovenia

Enlargement

Jozef SÍKELA

Commissioner

Czechia

International Partnerships

Constantinos KADIS

Commissioner

Cyprus

Fisheries and Oceans

Maria Luís CASANOVA MORGADO DIAS DE ALBUQUERQUE

Commissioner

Portugal

Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union

Hadja LAHBIB

Commissioner

Belgium

Preparedness and Crisis Management

Equality

Magnus BRUNNER

Commissioner

Austria

Internal Affairs and Migration

Jessika ROSWALL

Commissioner

Sweden

Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy

Piotr Arkadiusz SERAFIN

Commissioner

Poland

Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration

Dan JØRGENSEN

Commissioner

Denmark

Energy and Housing

Ekaterina SPASOVA GECHEVA-ZAHARIEVA

Commissioner

Bulgaria

Startups, Research and Innovation

Michael MCGRATH

Commissioner

Ireland

Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law

Apostolos TZITZIKOSTAS

Commissioner

Greece

Sustainable Transport and Tourism

Christophe HANSEN

Commissioner

Luxembourg

Agriculture and Food

Glenn MICALLEF

Commissioner

Malta

Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport