On 5 November, Michael McGrath, Ireland’s candidate to become European Commissioner for the period 2024-2029, was questioned by three European Parliament committees during what is called a “confirmation hearing”. Shortly after the hearing, the relevant MEPs voted to confirm Michael McGrath in his role as Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law, as reported by RTÉ and the Irish Times. But what is a “Commissioner hearing” and how did Michael McGrath do? This Just the Facts peeks into the committee rooms of the Parliament and unpacks what was said during the hearing of Ireland’s Commissioner-designate.
What is a confirmation hearing?
The very first Commission confirmation hearings were held in 1995. In the past, the European Parliament was not involved at all in the appointment of the Commission. Initially, this decision was in the hands of the governments of EU Member States. However, this changed in 1993 with the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty, which granted the European Parliament the right to vote on the Commission as a whole.
After being elected in July, one of the first tasks of the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, was to select her 26 candidates for the next College of Commissioners, as well as their associated portfolios. The selection was based on nominations put forward by EU Member States. Following this, the European Parliament then invited the candidates, or Commissioners-designate, to appear before the committees relevant to their portfolio. The 2024 hearings took place from 4 until 12 November.
Before the hearings can take place, the Parliament’s committee on legal affairs (JURI) examines possible conflicts of interest (financial) of Commissioners-designate. The candidates also must answer any written questions sent by Parliamentary committees. The written question and answers for each Commissioner-designate are available here, as well as each candidate’s CV.
Under Annex VII of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, the purpose of confirmation hearings is so that the Parliament can “evaluate Commissioners-designate based on their general competence, European commitment and personal independence”. The hearings are also so that MEPs can “assess knowledge of their prospective portfolio and their communication skills”.
Depending on the nature of the candidate’s portfolio, they can be assessed by one or multiple committees. While the final evaluation of the candidate is up to the main committee(s) responsible, other committees can also contribute to the hearing with oral questions. MEPs from a total of eight committees attended McGrath’s hearing.
During the confirmation hearings, Commissioners-designate essentially present the programmes for the portfolios that they have been assigned in the form of opening remarks of no longer than 15 minutes. This is then followed by a Q&A with MEPs. All hearings are streamed live for public viewing.
Following a confirmation hearing, the political group coordinators of the evaluating committees must meet “without delay”, along with the chairs of those committees. This meeting is held “in camera” or privately. During this meeting, the coordinators of the committee(s) responsible vote on whether the Commissioners-designate is qualified both to be “members of the College and to carry out the particular duties they have been assigned”. The committee(s) must then send a “letter of evaluation” 24 hours after the confirmation hearing and subsequent vote. These letters are then examined by the “Conference of Committee Chairs” and conveyed subsequently to the “Conference of Presidents”.
Michael McGrath: Commissioner-designate for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law
On Tuesday 5 November from 8.00-11.30 (IST), the confirmation hearing of Michael McGrath, Ireland’s Commissioner-designate, took place in the European Parliament in Brussels. McGrath is the Commissioner-Designate for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. As such, the European Parliament committees responsible were: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and Legal Affairs (JURI). Other committees were also invited to contribute to questioning.
Democracy, Justice and Rule of Law is a newly created portfolio. It expands upon the previous Justice portfolio held by the Belgian Commissioner, Didier Reynders, and now encompasses the areas of democracy and the protection of fundamental rights.
It is a high-profile and increasingly important portfolio, with an extensive list of responsibilities, focused in areas which are foundational to the EU project. At its core, the role includes the protection of human rights and access to civic space, addressing the challenge of corruption, and ensuring that contracts are enforced. Specific duties as outlined in the Mission Letter sent to Michael McGrath by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen include but are not limited to:
- Ensuring the rule of law is upheld across the EU, including the application of Article 7 (TEU) and the General Conditionality Mechanism.
- Consolidating the annual Rule of Law Report, coordinating work in reporting across Member States on the areas of judicial independence, anti-corruption, media freedoms, civic space and other institutional checks and balances.
- Ensuring the full enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as promoting secure and private data flows.
Protection of human rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights
In his opening remarks, McGrath acknowledged that the respect for human rights, as set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, is an EU value that must be “defended” and “cherished”. He stated that, upon confirmation, he would “work tirelessly to uphold the Charter of Fundamental Rights” and build greater awareness of the Charter among citizens. The Charter itself will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025. McGrath maintained that any breaches of the Charter would be acted upon, including the launching of infringement proceedings. Similarly, in his reply to the Green MEP, Tineke Strik, McGrath said he was “prepared to use the full suite of tools that we [the EU] have when it comes to breaches of the Charter of Fundamental Rights”. He also made reference to the monitoring of Member States’ fulfilment of the “horizontal enabling conditions”.
During the Q&A, McGrath was asked by S&D (socialist) MEP, Brigitte Sippel, how he envisaged reinforcing the application of Article 7 which is currently before the Council, to which he replied that he was happy to work with the Parliament on the issue and believed the Parliament should be given the opportunity to present on the matter. Article 7, also known as the suspension clause, allows for the possibility of “suspending EU membership rights (such as voting rights in the Council of the European Union) if a country seriously and persistently breaches the principles on which the EU is founded”.
When responding to a question put forward by the far-right Patriots for Europe MEP, Fabrice Leggeri, McGrath mentioned that the Commission’s annual report in respect of the Charter of Fundamental Rights is envisaged to become more of a “monitoring report”.
Under the Charter, McGrath’s portfolio will also include the remit of the freedom of expression. However, he made clear in response to a question put forward by the Patriots for Europe MEP, Jorge Martín Frías, that there was “a balance to be struck between freedom of expression and addressing hate speech, hate crime, and disinformation”.
McGrath made multiple references in his opening remarks and throughout the Q&A to a new “Victims’ Rights Strategy” that would ensure a “victim-centred” justice system, as well as the Victims’ Rights Directive which will soon be negotiated by the Parliament and the Council. He stated that his objective would be to keep the highest standards originally proposed by the European Commission.
Finally, in a response to S&D politician, Ana Catarina Mendes, McGrath said that he believed that this would be the mandate that the EU finally signs up to the Council of Europe’s seminal European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and that he would work with the Parliament to remove any obstacles to make sure that this happens “as quickly as possible”.
Consumer protection, GDPR and the protection of minors online
Although the issue of consumer protection is not in McGrath’s portfolio title, it will be an important part of his work. McGrath will be tasked with developing a new “Consumer Agenda” for the period 2025-2030, as well as a new “Action Plan on consumers in the Single Market”. During his confirmation hearing, McGrath made specific reference to the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) which will come into effect on 13 December 2024, and stated his intention to assess the need to update legislation in this area and ensure enforcement, particularly when it comes to unsafe products being sold through e-commerce platforms – an area where MEPs have expressed concern. In his opening remarks, he also committed taking forward a “Digital Fairness Act” to further enhance the protection of consumers when buying products online.
McGrath also said that his priorities in this area would include ensuring that consumers are not “exploited for commercial purposes”, that social media influencers are not “misleading consumers” and that “children are sufficiently protected online” from harmful content, as well as from manipulative practices when playing online games. He said that he plans to address “dark patterns” and the “addictive design of digital products and unfair personalisation practices”.
The enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will also be within the remit of McGrath’s portfolio. Regarding GDPR, McGrath was asked a question by the EPP MEP, Lena Düpont, about the “interlinkage between GDPR and Artificial Intelligence” and whether the implementation of the regulation is undermining “growth and competitiveness” in this area. McGrath was steadfast in his response, stating that GDPR is “technologically neutral” and is not contradictory to fostering innovation – “we can have both”.
S&D MEP, Birgit Sippel, also asked McGrath regarding challenges to the application of fundamental rights in the area of protection of privacy and personal data. In his response, McGrath said that he believed that the adoption of the Procedural Rules Regulation would be an important initiative to ensure the consistent implementation of GDPR, particularly on a cross-border basis.
Rule of Law
In his opening remarks, Commissioner-designate McGrath acknowledged the importance of rule of law within the EU, committing to robust engagement with Member States and civil society organisations on the ground as a prevention mechanism for rule of law issues. He acknowledged the importance of the European Commission’s annual rule of law reports as well as the wider toolbox, which has been significantly expanded across the 2019-2024 mandate.
MEP questions on the topic included the introduction of clear deadlines for implementing rule of law recommendations (Birgit Sippel, S&D), the interlinkage between rule of law and access to EU funding (Tineke Strik, Greens/EFA), and rule of law as it pertains to states seeking to join the EU, in particular the Western Balkans (Michał Wawrykiewicz, EPP). In his responses, the Commissioner-designate outlined his intention to adopt a “hands on” approach to supporting Member State implementation of rule of law recommendations with additional monitoring as to whether changes are being implemented in the first place. While the conditionality mechanism for access to EU funding falls under the remit of the Commissioner for the Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, McGrath was clear that respect for EU law is a must for EU funds, with a commitment that infringements of Article 2 (EU values) will be met with all enforcement tools at the EU’s disposal including Article 7 procedures.
Future of justice
During the confirmation hearing, the “future of justice”, as mentioned in Mario Draghi’s recent report on the future of EU competitiveness, was referenced by the Chair of the JURI committee, Ilhan Kyuchyuk. On this issue, McGrath said that the “time was right” for a “fresh look” at the future of EU civil and company law. McGrath said that this would involve a new “justice for growth” strategy. In essence, this strategy would envisage reducing red tape and making it easier for businesses to trade but without diluting citizens’ rights – for example the “digitalisation of justice” or cutting down on bureaucracy in Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) compliance. The language of “growth” in the context of the justice portfolio is interesting and reflects the broader priority of growth and economy in President von der Leyen’s “Political Guidelines” for the 2024-2029 Commission mandate.
Additionally, McGrath made reference to the possible expansion of euro-crimes when responding to the ECR (right) MEP, Assita Kanko, who asked how he would ensure that rape is criminalised equally all across the EU. McGrath said that he would consider a proposal to add gender-based violence to the list of euro-crimes. Euro-crimes, or EU-crimes, are essentially criminal activities of a cross-border nature that pose a threat to the EU – normally a threat of an economic nature. These areas of crime are defined in Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and include the following: terrorism, trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of women and children, illicit drug trafficking, illicit arms trafficking, money laundering, corruption, counterfeiting of means of payment, computer crime and organised crime. Additional EU-crimes can only be “identified by unanimous decision of the Council and with the prior consent of the European Parliament”.
Regarding the future of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), McGrath was asked by S&D MEP, Chloé Ridel, whether he would push for an increase of the EPPO’s resources. McGrath said that he would like to “accelerate the revision of the EPPO regulation”, including a reflection on the rules on the EPPO’s competence to other cross-border serious crimes, in addition to fraud. He made a particular reference that this competence could extend to corruption that impacts EU funds.
Finally, McGrath discussed Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and ensuring Russia’s full accountability for its war crimes. He said that the establishment of a “special tribunal for the crime of aggression within the institutional framework of the Council of Europe” would be a priority.
Media freedom
Media freedom and the protection of journalists was another key theme of the hearing with Commissioner-designate McGrath receiving questions on his intentions to guarantee media freedom across the Union and concerns also expressed regarding the use of Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs) to silence journalists and restrict civic space. For context, a report published by DG-Internal-Policies examining the rise of SLAPPs in Europe identifies journalists as the most common defendants (44% of cases). In his responses, Commissioner-designate McGrath outlined his commitment to the swift implementation of the anti-SLAPP directive. The anti-SLAPP directive which was officially adopted in April 2024 forms part of a wider array of legislation to strengthen media freedom and pluralism in the EU, including the Media Freedom Act and a European Commission Recommendation to improve the safety of journalists and human rights defenders, both of which were referenced by the Commissioner-designate during his hearing.
McGrath’s mission letter has also tasked him with tackling disinformation and stepping up the EU’s “fight against foreign information manipulation and interference” (FIMI). During his confirmation hearing, McGrath said that the 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation will be converted into a “Code of Conduct on Disinformation”. He also referred to “Democracy Shield” which was first proposed by President von der Leyen in her speech to the Parliament as candidate for a second mandate in July 2024. This initiative is intended to represent the “central approach” to tackling these issues.
Cooperation with the European Parliament and Commissioner-designate McGrath’s general approach
During the confirmation hearing, McGrath displayed elements as to what his general approach will be as Commissioner when it comes to working with the Parliament. He began his opening remarks by citing his 25-year career as a parliamentarian and public representative: “Like you, I am a parliamentarian.” He expressed his “deepest respect” for MEPs as the “directly elected representatives of the citizens of the EU” and spoke about how inspirational the work of Irish MEP and peacemaker John Hume has been throughout his political career. He went on to assure MEPs that their voice and the voice of the people they represent will be heard. His diplomatic approach to the role was also evident in his reply to the EPP MEP, Moritz Körner, who asked if he was “willing to be strong” in utilising the Commission’s toolbox when it comes to politically sensitive rule of law issues, “even if it creates tensions”. McGrath replied, saying, that his first approach will always be “dialogue” and that he will be “diplomatic”, but that this should however not be mistaken for “weakness”.
McGrath was applauded twice during his confirmation hearing both times while pushing back on questions posed by far-right MEPs. The ESN MEP, Alexander Sell, asked McGrath what his opinion was regarding the cordon sanitaire and the “restriction” of democratic participation by certain parties in the European Parliament. McGrath’s response was resolute as he stated the following:
“I am a democrat to my core. I respect the democratic mandate of every individual who is elected by the citizens in a Member State or in a European election context.
I respect mandates for sure, and I’m happy to engage with anyone who subscribes to democratic principles. However, where there can be no compromise in respect of our values in Article 2: democracy, equality, rule of law, freedom, respect for human rights, human dignity. There is no room for compromise. These are not optional extras. They are not à la carte. You cannot pick and choose. So, respect for them, respect for the Charter of Fundamental Rights and respect for our democracy in every form is absolutely essential to the work that we do.”
Next steps
Any unsuccessful candidates may be withdrawn during the hearing process and replaced with a new candidate. Any new candidate also has to go through each of the preparatory steps outlined above and a confirmation hearing in Parliament.
Commissioner-designate McGrath will be formally confirmed on 21 November by the entire European Parliament, once the Conference of Presidents (comprising the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and the chairs of the political groups) conducts its final evaluation, declares the hearings officially closed, and publishes evaluation letters.
Once the hearings process is complete, MEPs then vote by a simple majority during a plenary session whether to accept or reject the Commission as a whole. This vote is currently scheduled to take place during the 25-28 November plenary session.
Read more about the new European Union mandate:
