President Juncker consults the European Parliament on Kadri Simson and Ioan Mircea Paşcu as European Commissioners

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Today, President Jean-Claude Juncker communicated to the European Parliament that he had the opportunity to assess the ability of Kadri Simson and Ioan Mircea Paşcu to serve as Members of the European Commission, in light of Article 17(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The European Parliament is now being consulted on their appointment as Commissioners with Estonian and Romanian nationality, until the end of President Juncker‘s term on 31 October 2019. This comes after the Council of the European Union failed to reach unanimity on his proposal not to replace – for the remaining months – those outgoing Commissioners who were elected and have now become Members of the European Parliament. Оn 11 July, President Juncker interviewed the two candidates for Commissioners proposed by the Romanian and Estonian Governments. Following the interviews, President Juncker confirmed the candidates’ competences as required under Article 17(3) TEU. He also decided not to allocate specific portfolios to the two Commissioners-designate in view of the short remainder of the mandate. They will, however, take part in collegiate activities and be able to participate in the project teams. In letters sent to the two Commissioners-designate today, President Juncker also reminded them of their responsibilities as Members of the Commission, including the obligation to abide by the highest possible professional and ethical standards. Procedurally, the new Members of the Commission are appointed by the Council of the EU by common accord with the President of the Commission after consultation of the European Parliament (Article 246, subparagraph 2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). In addition, the Interinstitutional Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the European Commission specifies that the President of the Commission ‘will seriously consider’ the results of the consultation of the European Parliament before giving his agreement to the Council’s decision to appoint the new Commissioner (paragraph 6 of the Framework Agreement). President Juncker sent today a letter to David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, informing him of his decision. He also informed Antti Rinne, Prime Minister of Finland, currently holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union as well as Jüri Ratas and Viorica Dăncilă, the Prime Ministers of Estonia and Romania respectively. As the Council has already formally consulted the European Parliament, Kadri Simson and Ioan Mircea Paşcu are now Commissioners-designate. They have the right to draw on Commission support to prepare for their exchange of views with the European Parliament.

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