Groen licht van Europarlementariërs voor nieuwe commissarissen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs on Thursday (15 April) gave the nod to the ten commissioners from the new member states after relatively docile hearings over recent days.

Leaders of the European Parliament's political groups concluded that the nominees "performed satisfactorily at their hearings, demonstrating a genuine commitment to European integration and the technical ability to carry out their various duties".

However, there was a feeling that the performance from both sides was lacklustre.

MEPs went easier on the would-be commissioners than expected as they will take up their jobs on 1 May and because it is only for an interim period.

The anticipated questions on some of the commissioner's political histories were much softer. Estonia's Siim Kallas, who was expected to receive a tough grilling on his communist past, did not receive one question on the issue.

Storing up the tough questions

MEPs are expected to do a much more thorough job in autumn when the whole of the commission will come under the parliamentary microscope in preparation for its next five-year term.

Among the candidates themselves, some were exposed as having little knowledge of aspects of their portfolios while most were hampered by the fact that they do not know if they will be re-nominated again in autumn by their governments.

Some MEPs were very critical of the performances. Hannes Swoboda, the deputy leader of the Socialists in the Parliament, said "the general picture we have is of technocrats with very low profiles".

"Most of the candidates were very restrained in answering MEPs' questions and what they did say was often not very clear".

Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia - not so good

The most praise was reserved for Poland's Danuta Hübner, Lithuania's Dalia Grybauskaite and Estonia's Siim Kallas.

The parliament's committees were less fulsome in their praise for others. "He could not, however, be described as a heavyweight candidate", it was said of Cyprus' Markos Kyprianou.

From Slovenia, Janez Potocnik's replies "were less than convincing" while MEPs on Malta's Joe Borg remained "to be convinced of his expertise and political vision in certain areas".

European Parliament President Pat Cox insisted that if the parliament had a "serious reservation" it would have informed the Commission and the relevant national government.

National politics

For some commissioners national politics played a large role in the hearings. Polish commissioner Danuta Hübner received the most domestic questions.

However, Mr Cox said that while some were enthusiastically playing the "home game" rather than the "away game", his house is "not a national parliament".

"It is a European parliament ... and we will act that way in a Europe of 25".

The European Parliament as a whole will vote on the new commission on 5 May - four days after the new commissioners have already taken up their posts.