The Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament has completed examining any conflicts of interest for the new Commissioners-designate about their respective portfolios. According to Parliament’s rules of procedure, the Legal Affairs Committee is responsible for evaluating each commissioner-designate’s potential or actual conflicts of interest. This process is confidential and is a prerequisite for a candidate to participate in the hearing in the European Parliament. The Legal Affairs Committee must provide written confirmation of the absence of any conflict of interest for the candidate to be heard by the relevant committee. The next step involves the confirmation hearings, during which each Commissioner-designate will be heard in their respective committees as per the agreed calendar. Declarations of interest submitted by the Commissioners-designate will be made publicly available before the start of the confirmation hearings.
Following the examination, Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew, BG) said: “The JURI Committee performed an impartial and in-depth analysis of the declarations of interest of the Commissioners-designate, looking at potential conflicts of interests with reference to the assigned portfolios. Whenever we deemed the information incomplete, we requested further details in order to assess all relevant elements and reach our conclusions. From a procedural point of view, some reasonable criticism of the legal framework can arise and we will have the opportunity to analyse it and suggest amendments, if needed. But today, I want to express my gratitude to all Members of JURI for taking an active part in the process and safeguarding the interests not only of the Committee and Parliament – but also – the European citizens, through their thorough review of all data and information at our disposal. I am glad that JURI, together with all other parliamentary committees, will now be able to focus on the confirmation hearings of Commissioners-designate.”
