BRUSSELS – The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament (AFET) will conduct the hearing of the Commissioner-designate for Enlargement Marta Kos on 7 November, and of the candidate for the High Representative of the Union Kaja Kallas on 12 November, EP announced today. The hearings of other Commissioners-designate in the relevant Committees of the EP will take place from 4 to 12 November.
Depending on the portfolio, a Commissioner-designate can be assessed by one parliamentary committee (committee responsible) or by more than one committee (joint committees). The hearing of Marta Kos will also be attended by the members of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) and the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI).
Meanwhile, the hearing of Kaja Kalas will be attended by the committees responsible for development (DEVE), international trade (INTA), women’s rights and gender equality (FEMM), security and defence (SEDE), and human rights (DROI).
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 Conference of Presidents, which consists of the President of the European Parliament and the chairs of the political groups, will exchange views and decide whether to close the hearings in its meeting on 21 November. At the end of the process, the European Parliament will vote for the new European Commission as a whole. The vote is currently scheduled to take place during the 25-28 November session in Strasbourg.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen presented her proposed new team of commissioners after negotiations with the EU member states on 17 September. Each commissioner would be responsible for a different portfolio and out of a total of 26 proposed commissioners, 10 are women and 16 are men.
Marta Kos, who is expected to succeed Hungarian Olivér Várhelyi, is a Slovenian former ambassador to Germany and Switzerland. She was a Vice President of the liberal Freedom Movement, led by Prime Minister Robert Golob. In 2022, she ran for President of Slovenia but withdrew from the campaign.
Kaja Kallas resigned as Estonian Prime Minister to become the High Representative of the European Commission for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Kallas is expected to succeed Josep Borrell of Spain, who has served as the EU foreign policy chief since 2019.