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Happy New Year! The holidays are a distant memory. The Commissioner
hearings have been the dominant event so far of the New
Year. The first
casualty has been Mrs Juleva who seems to have been the cause of
her own demise. Lesson one: never be defensive in a hearing with
MEPs in particular if you are at fault. The hearings themselves
have been an interesting observation in human psychology. Some
candidates have gone for the safe option – say as little as
possible, make no commitments. For example, in Oli Rehn’s hearing,
where he chose to play safe, the most memorable moment was when he
actually was himself, speaking about his father starting his own
business. Lesson two: always be yourself. The key criticism of
these hearings has been that candidates have been too scripted and
therefor have failed to be clear about their own vision for their
portfolio. It has led many people to ask what is the value of the
process? What do we learn from this experience? For some candidates
who are more technocrats than politicians, the experience has shown
that their strengths are not in facing political scrutiny yet this
is what they will have to face if they are to work well with the
Parliament. Those
candidates who have had past experience in national politics, such
as Almunia, Barnier and Geeghan Quinn, illustrated how comfortable
they were facing elected representatives. Barnier was comfortable
quipping back to the
UKIP MEP who said he represented the City of London by saying that
he thought he was there to represent his constituents! Now the
hearings are over, the committees have drafted their letters on the
whole the process has gone quite smoothly. For the first time all
the hearings have been properly and effectively webstreamed. Yet
has there been a wider public debate on the hearings outwith the
Brussels bubble? Not in the way MEPs would have liked. We need to
learn that public debate and scrutiny of the process brings
legitimacy to the hearings which is in both Parliaments and the
Commission best interests.
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Editorial - January 2010
