By Martin Banks - 1st December 2009
The committees will want the full disclosure of relevant financial information
Andrew Duff
A senior MEP has warned that commissioner-designates will have to provide "full disclosure of relevant financial information" before they will be ratified by parliament.
Speaking at a news conference in parliament, UK ALDE member Andrew Duff warned that this will extend to fiscal information about their partners and families.
He said such information was necessary in order to ensure a "top class" commission.
Each commissioner-designate will face a hearing before their relevant committee in parliament in January.
Duff, parliament's rapporteur on the procedures for the hearings, promised that the hearings will be "fair, open and consistent."
He said the announcement by commission president José Manuel Barroso last Friday of his new team of commissioners had come "unexpectedly quickly."
The focus now turns to the parliamentary hearings which all candidates will have to go through before formally taking up their duties in February next year.
Duff drew up the current rules for the hearings following an assessment of the hearings process in 2004.
The ALDE deputy said, "Before parliament can approve the new commission we need to know that all its members are competent, independent and committed to the goals of the Lisbon treaty.
"In particular, we will be looking for the commissioners-designate to have a decent grasp of their given portfolio, the capability to be a good team player and good communication skills.
"The committees will want the full disclosure of relevant financial information, including that of the candidates' partners and families.
"Parliament will wish to express itself on the overall gender balance of the new college, as well as the content and distribution of the portfolios.
"Barroso is proposing to make many changes to the structure of the commission and parliament needs to ensure the full democratic accountability of the whole team on a systematic basis."
"The hearings are a necessary check that the Barroso II commission will be the top class executive that the EU both needs and deserves", he added.
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