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Controversial British, Spanish EU nominees face grilling

01 October 2014, 12:24 CET
Controversial British, Spanish EU nominees face grilling

Jonathan Hill- Miguel Arias Canete - Photo EC

(BRUSSELS) - The most controversial picks for the EU's new leadership faced a grilling by lawmakers Wednesday, with Britain's man under intense scrutiny and a Spanish inquisition threatening to kill off the chances of Madrid's nominee.

The members of Jean-Claude Juncker's new European Commission must go through individual confirmation hearings by the European Parliament before legislators vote on the whole team on October 22.

Britain's Jonathan Hill, named in the financial services post, faces tough questions from lawmakers concerned the former lobbyist will be soft on London's crucial financial services industry and fail to push through new banking regulation.

Hill, a member of British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, was expected to say that he wanted a well-regulated financial sector and that he wanted Britain, which may hold a referendum on EU membership in 2017, to stay in Europe.

But the nominee widely viewed as being in the most trouble is Spain's Miguel Arias Canete, the nominee for the energy and climate change portfolio, a hot job given the EU's standoff with major gas supplier Russia.

Canete faces accusations of a conflict of interest through ties to the energy industry despite having been forced to sell his shares in two oil firms in September.

The bearded Spaniard is also accused of sexism after making macho comments towards a female rival at a debate last year.

Seventy-six members of the European Parliament have signed a petition against his nomination, whilst a "Stop Canete" protest by the Greens and the radical left was scheduled outside parliament before his hearing.

The Greens last week wrote to incoming European Commission chief Juncker complaining that some of his family still had a stake in energy companies, while the Commission's head of women's rights, Spanish socialist Iratxe Garcia Perez, also penned a letter to Juncker condemning Canete's "sexist remarks".

Hungary's Tibor Navracsics, a former justice minister, also faces a rough ride on Wednesday, having repeatedly clashed with the EU over Prime Minster Viktor Orban's crackdown on media regulation and the justice system.

Given the concerns about rights, it is particularly galling to his critics that Navracsics is the pick to be commissioner of culture, education, youth and citizenship.

- 'A difficult interview' -

Juncker, a former Luxembourg premier and wily political operator, could ask the relevant countries to drop any candidate who could threaten his ability to get his new commission through parliament.

In both 2004 and 2009, EU lawmakers asked for a commissioner to be dropped or to have their portfolio changed.

Canete appears the most likely candidate to be dropped, but Brussels officials say he is still expected to get through because of a deal between the different groups in the European Parliament.

"He's not dead in the water," one European diplomat told AFP. "He will have a difficult interview but he'll pass, because the socialists and the conservatives have made a non-aggression pact."

The pact would mean that "if you block Canete, we'll block Moscovici", referring to France's controversial nominee for economic affairs commissioner, former finance minister Pierre Moscovici, who is being interviewed on Thursday.

A member of Juncker's conservative European People's Party, Alain Lamassoure, said the pact was logical considering the "grand coalition" they have agreed with the socialists in parliament, which was elected in May.

But the socialists denied that there was any pact, meaning that Canete's fate remains uncertain.

European Parliament hearings of the Commissioners-designate


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