Tuesday, October 7, 2014

UK's Lord Hill faces second EU test before MEPs

Lord Hill with MEPs, 1 Oct 14 Lord Hill's first question-and-answer session lasted nearly three hours
The UK's choice to join the European Commission team, Lord Hill, will have to answer MEPs' questions again shortly at the European Parliament.
His recall for further questioning was very unusual. Last week MEPs were not satisfied with his answers.
He has been assigned to oversee EU financial services and capital markets - a post that suits the UK government, given the City of London's key role.
Hungary's EU nominee, Tibor Navracsics, has also met with MEPs' scepticism.
At his hearing MEPs voted against him taking charge of education, culture and citizenship, though he could still get a different post in the Commission.
Spain's Miguel Arias Canete and France's Pierre Moscovici also faced some hostile questioning from MEPs last week.
BBC Europe correspondent Chris Morris says Lord Hill will have to be more convincing this time in front of MEPs, as there are doubts about the UK - outside the euro - managing eurozone financial policies. His second hearing starts at 13:00 (11:00 GMT).
A Belgian Green MEP, Philippe Lamberts, told the BBC that Lord Hill did not appear to be knowledgeable about his financial brief.
There is also some political point-scoring going on at these confirmation hearings, our correspondent says.
The new Commission, headed by Jean-Claude Juncker, cannot take office unless the whole team gets parliamentary approval. The parliament vote is scheduled for 22 October.

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