site.btaMEP Kyuchyuk: EU Commissioners'-Designate Potential Conflict of Interest Assessment Procedure Is Non-political and Transparent

The procedures for assessing potential conflict of interests of the EU commissioners-designate is non-political and transparent," Bulgarian MEP and European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee Chair Ilhan Kyuchyuk told a press conference here on Wednesday.

"We do not play political games," Kyuchyuk emphasized. In his words, the procedure takes between 24 and 48 hours.

"The results will be made public after the start of hearing of the commissioners-designate. The declarations of interests will be published on the European Parliament website after the Legal Affairs Committee procedure is completed," the MEP specified.

He explained that the Committee may require additional information from the Commissioner-designate.

"We can invite them to provide clarifications at a meeting of our committee. We can issue recommendations to the commissioner-designate. The Legal Affairs Committee may conclude that the commissioner-designate is unable to exercise his or her functions in accordance with the Treaties and the Code of Conduct," Kyuchyuk said further.

"The Legal Affairs Committee is not vested with investigative powers. It can only review the declarations submitted by the commissioners-designate and make a financial and non-financial assessment on whether the commissioner is in a potential or actual conflict of interests limited to his or her portfolio," he explained.

"The Committee's assessment is important because the official start of the commissioners'-designate hearings cannot start before its release. A date-by-date schedule, however, is not yet available," the MEP specified.

"We are waiting for the declarations of the 26 commissioners-designate. They will be delivered by the European Commission to the European Parliament simultaneously," Kyuchyuk added.

According to the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, the Legal Affairs Committee is to scrutinize the declarations of interests and assess whether the content of the declaration made by a commissioner-designate is accurate and complete and whether it is possible to infer a conflict of interests. The confirmation by the committee of the absence of any conflict of interests is an essential precondition for the holding of the confirmation hearing by the committee responsible for the subject matter.