NOT MUCH IS known about the next Irish EU commissioner’s identity, expect for one thing – they’ll be from Fianna Fáil.

While there is no formal process on how to manage the appointment, the parties in Government always thrash out how it will to appoint the next EU commissioner upon forming a coalition.

The same can’t be said for Brussels, however, where there is a grueling, sometimes-months-long process within the European institutions to get the next 27 commissioners, and one president, appointed.

Commissioners are regarded as the highest-ranking diplomats in the EU and are in the people who are put in charge of drafting and amending various types of new European policy.

Under the direction of European government leaders, the group (or the ‘college’, as they’re known) of commissioners will come up with ways for the EU to implement new laws in order to meet the agenda set for them by the member states. In Brussels, these are called ‘texts’.

These texts are then sent onto the European parliament where MEPs thrash out the wording of the new law during intense discussions and debates. You can find out more about this whole process here.

Once the new law is adopted, the Commissioner in charge of the policy area, or competency, will be tasked with making sure the legislation is being enforced correctly across the EU.

For example, last month the tech Commissioner, Thierry Breton, launched a probe into Facebook and Instagram over claims the platforms had possibly breached the Digital Services Act, a law that attempts to regulate online safety.

The top job 

But the path to reach the point as the chief diplomat and regulator is not easy. First, the leaders of EU member states – which make up a group called the European Council – must propose a candidate to be the next President of the commission.

The candidate, chosen by at least 16 out of 27 member states, is then put to another vote by the newly-elected European Parliament who must agree to appoint the proposed candidate by a majority decision.

In the last term, current-European Commissioner President Ursula von der Leyen was accepted by the Parliament by just nine votes.

If the MEPs do not agree on the nomination, the European Council cannot propose another candidate for another month. Once the Commission President is elected, the member states’ governments will propose one commissioner each.

In Ireland, the current Government has decided that Fianna Fáil will appoint the next commissioner. The Government will proposed two candidates, one male and one female, and also propose what position they could take in the college.

The newly-elected Commissioner President and the European leaders will then nominate their lead candidates and the nominees go through a grueling interview process and are subjected to hours of questioning and scrutiny by the MEPs at committee level. 

For example, the candidate for the agriculture Commissioner will take questions from MEPs on the agriculture committee and other committees relevant to that policy area. This grilling can take up to four hours and is available to be watched by the public.

The chair of the committees will draft a report of the candidates performance which will allow the MEPs to decide the best candidate. In Strasbourg, France, the Commission President will then present the new college to the MEPs after the reports have been submitted.

During the live-streamed hearing, the proposed Commissioner-hopefuls make a short speech to the MEPs before the parliamentarians cast their ballot.

A total of 51% of MEPs must accept the new proposed college of Commissioners in its entirety in order for the Commissioners to be officially appointed to the job.

So does the public have a say in this?

In a way, yes. The MEPs, elected by the public, represent those who voted for them during these votes.

Over the last number of weeks, there has been plenty examples of Irish candidates claiming this process is anti-democratic and does not represent the public’s perspective on the Commission.

This is not just a claim that does the rounds in Ireland, but all over Europe. However, the process has been changed in recent years to allow the MEPs – who are directly elected by the public – to represent the public in their vote for the roles in the Commission.

Speaking to The Journal, Barry Colfer, the director of research at the Institute of International & European Affairs said that since the public first cast a ballot to directly elect MEPs in 1979, the Parliament has “gained way more responsibilities”.

Colfer said that not only has the Parliament become a “co-legislator” – meaning they make laws alongside Governments and ministers – but the people who are directly elected by the public are those who vote for the commissioners. 

He said: “What used to happen was, the European Parliament were given a slate and were told: ‘This is who the Commission is going to be composed of’. The MEPs could either say yes or no. They couldn’t pick or choose. It was either the whole lot, or start again.

“But now, and this is will only be the third round in the autumn, there’s already been several examples where the nominees of different countries have been sent away [by MEPs] because of lack of expertise, poor performance under questioning or some other political reason.”

He added, however, that the European Government leaders “still call the shots” once it comes to who the nominee for the Commission Presidency is.

Colfer pointed to article 17.7 of the Lisbon Treaty which gives the European leaders the remit to choose any candidate after taking “account of the results of the European election”. 

“This is open to massive interpretation. At least, it means, whatever group is biggest should have the first go at nominating a candidates but whether it’s the candidate the Parliament want or not, it’s clearly been show that the Government can pull rank.”

In 2014, Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker was the favourite candidate for the Commission Presidency between the European leaders but also the lead nominee of the biggest party in the Parliament and was accepted as the president comfortably.

But in 2019, the leader of the biggest group in the Parliament, Manfred Weber, was not chosen by the European leaders, who instead chose Ursula von der Leyen.

Colfer said: “This process, it’s the third time it’s going to happen. But on the two previous occasions, it’s proven that when it comes to the really big political decisions – like enlargement, responding to Covid-19, responding to the war in Ukraine, but also determining who the main candidates are for the top jobs – it’s still the European Council that call the shots.”

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This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work are the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.