Questioning the Executive: Parliamentary Control of the Appointment of European Commissioners

The European Parliament has the right to approve and dismiss the European Commission. To prepare for its vote it considers in detail the commissioners-designate. Since 1994, they have been required to appear before an EP hearing.  These confirmation hearings in the EP are an integral part of the appointment procedure of Commissioners today. During these hearings MEPs question the commissioners-designate about their general competence, European commitment, personal independence, their knowledge of the prospective portfolio and their communication skills. There is little known about how these confirmation hearings are applied in practice. The aim of this paper is to examine (1) the type and tone of the questions posed to Commissioners designate in the hearings in the period 1990-2010; and (2) whether these questions evolved and whether the increased political power of the European Parliament is reflected in the questioning by the MEP of the candidates for the European executive. Drawing on a content analysis of a sample of questions from these confirmation hearings, this paper shows how policy related questions has become increasingly dominant. This increase, we argue, can be understood as an indication of an increased politicization of the European Commission.