03-10-2019 14:30
Hearing of Commissioner-designate Johannes Hahn

ROOM József Antall - JAN 4Q2
Hearings  Johannes Hahn (Austria)
Hearings Johannes Hahn (Austria) - Budget and administration © European Union 2019 - EP

The Committees on Budgets and Budgetary Control questioned the commissioner-designate on future budget policy and protecting the EU’s financial interests. Political groups’ coordinators and chairs from the two committees will meet within 24 hours to assess the performance of the Austrian Commissioner-designate Hahn.

The EU budget is under pressure from several sides, with requests to reduce it due to Brexit, due to the economic situation at national level, due to somehow artificial and outdated lenses of the net balances by the Member States, which takes the attention away from the debate on how to invest into policies with EU added value.

The role of the Commissioner-designate for Budget and Administration for the next 5 years are crucial for Europe: a new Multiannual Financial Framework has to enter into force by the end of 2020 as well as all the sectoral programmes. We need a speedy agreement - we owe it to the final beneficiaries and the citizens in general - but we cannot overlook the quality of such an agreement. Members of BUDG and CONT also expect a Commissioner who acts as a genuine honest broker between Parliament and Council, acting neutrally, transparently and respecting the roles and prerogatives of every institution to ensure that work can be conducted in a climate of full trust.