The leaders of the European Parliament have rejigged their provisional schedule for the European Commissioner-designate hearings next month to avoid working on a holiday.
The new schedule, published on October 10, is nearly identical with the provisional timetable first revealed exclusively by Brussels Signal on October 8, with all of the most controversial dates and times agreed upon in the schedule remaining the same.
Eurocrats however opted totally to remove Monday, November 11 from the timetable, opting to move the two hearings that had been planned for that day to Tuesday, November 12, instead.
Speaking to Brussels Signal, an insider for this confirmed that the reasoning for the adjustments is that November 11 is a holiday in many member EU states, and that the rejigged timetable means that MEPs will no longer have to work that day.
The new updated schedule is as follows:
Monday, November 4
(14:30 – 17:30): Maroš Šefčovič (Trade and Economic Security)
(14:30 – 17:30): Glenn Micallef (Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport)
(18:30 – 21:30): Christophe Hansen (Agriculture)
(18:30 – 21:30): Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Sustainable Transport and Tourism)
Tuesday, November 5 (US Election Day)
(09:00 – 12:00): Michael McGrath (Democracy, Justice, and the Rule of Law)
(09:00 – 12:00): Ekaterina Zaharieva (Startups, Research and Innovation)
(14:30 – 17:30): Dan Jørgensen (Energy and Housing)
(14:30 – 17:30): Dubravka Šuica (Mediterranean)
(18:30 – 21:30): Jessika Roswall (Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy)
(18:30 – 21:30): Magnus Brunner (Internal Affairs and Migration)
Wednesday, November 6
(09:00 – 12:00): Hadja Lahbib (Preparedness and Crisis Management; Equality)
(09:00 – 12:00): Maria Luís Albuquerque (Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union)
(14:30 – 17:30): Costas Kadis (Fisheries and Oceans)
(14:30 – 17:30): Jozef Síkela (International Partnerships)
(18:30 – 21:30): Andrius Kubilius (Defence and Space)
(18:30 – 21:30): Olivér Várhelyi (Health and Animal Welfare)
Thursday, November 7
(09:00 – 12:00): Wopke Hoekstra (Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth)
(09:00 – 12:00): Marta Kos (Enlargement)
(14:30 – 17:30): Piotr Serafin (Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration)
(14:30 – 17:30): Valdis Dombrovskis (Economy and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification)
Monday, November 11
(14:30 – 17:30): Raffaele Fitto (Cohesion and Reforms)
(14:30 – 17:30): Henna Virkkunen (Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy)
Tuesday, November 12
(09:00 – 12:00): Raffaele Fitto (Cohesion and Reforms)
(09:00 – 12:00): Kaja Kallas (High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy)
(14.30-17.30): Roxana Mînzatu (People, Skills and Preparedness)
(14.30-17.30): Stéphane Séjourné (Prosperity and Industrial Strategy)
(18.30-21.30): Teresa Ribera Rodríguez (Clean, Just and Competitive Transition)
(18.30-21.30): Henna Virkkunen (Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy)
