"The European Parliaments Role in Nominating the Members of the Commission: First Steps Towards Parliamentary Government or US Senate-Type Confirmation Hearings"

Jacobs, Francis. (1995) "The European Parliaments Role in Nominating the Members of the Commission: First Steps Towards Parliamentary Government or US Senate-Type Confirmation Hearings". In: UNSPECIFIED, Charleston, South Carolina. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The European Parliament's role in the nomination process to top positions in European institutions has traditionally been a very weak one. This has even been true with regard to nominations to the Commission, in spite of the fact that the Parliament has long had the power to fire the entire Commission once it is in place. One of the most significant changes introduced by the Maastricht Treaty is that the Parliament has been given a stronger say in the nomination process, not only as regards the President of the Commission and the Commission as a whole, but also as regards membership of the European Court of Auditors, the Presidency of the European Monetary Institute and the Presidency and Vice Presidencies of the future European Central Bank. The paper begins by reviewing those new powers given to the Parliament in the Maastricht Treaty, and then at the ways in which they have subsequently been utilized. The paper continues with a discussion of the demands likely to be made by the Parliament at the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference for further development of its powers to scrutinize nominations to the Commission and the other EU institutions, and thus to further reinforce democratic control at EU level.

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