Moscovici at his hearing before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs at the EU Parliament in Brussels.

 

DPA/Brussels

 

Former French finance minister Pierre Moscovici struggled yesterday to convince EU parliamentarians that he should be the bloc’s next economy commissioner, amid criticism over France’s failure to meet budget targets.

Moscovici is among the 27 commissioners whom Jean-Claude Juncker wants at his side when he takes over the helm of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive, on November 1.

But the line-up of the commission – which proposes EU laws and plays a key role in ensuring they are applied – has to be endorsed by the European Parliament.

The legislature has a history of forcing changes in commission nominations.

Moscovici tried to win over lawmakers during a three-hour hearing in Brussels yesterday.

However, only members of his Socialist faction then expressed support for immediately approving the appointment, said Thomas Bickl, a spokesman for the conservative European People’s Party (EPP).

The other political groups in the parliament asked for a second round of questioning to be set up with Moscovici, he said.

Moscovici would be the second commissioner nominee to face that hurdle, after parliamentarians decided on Wednesday that they wanted a second hearing with Britain’s candidate, Jonathan Hill.

Both men would handle important economic portfolios in the new commission.

They also happen to be from diametrically opposed political families – Hill stems from Britain’s Conservative Party, while Moscovici is from France’s Socialist Party.

Many parliamentarians focused yesterday on the fact that France has repeatedly failed to bring its deficit below 3% of gross domestic product – despite leeway granted by Brussels.

“No person of good faith can contest your experience, your qualities and your European commitment ... But no person of good faith can understand why the portfolio you aspire to is the one where you failed in your country,” EPP lawmaker Alain Lamassoure told Moscovici, who served as finance minister up to April.

But Moscovici defended his record by pointing out that the French deficit dropped from 5% to 4.1% during his time in office.

He also argued that all his budgetary decisions were endorsed by the EU.

“I am someone who wants budgetary seriousness, who wants deficit reduction,” he said. “I am proud of what I did. ... Was it enough? Probably not, since the situation of this country is still difficult.”

The eurozone’s second-largest economy, which is struggling to control public debt of €2tn ($2.5tn), has pledged to cut spending by an unprecedented €50bn by 2017.

Paris does not expect to hit the EU’s 3% deficit goal until then – two years later than originally expected.

Parliamentarians repeatedly challenged Moscovici on whether he would be able to go after France with European Union sanctions foreseen for budget sinners.

“I will remain French, I’m deeply French, I’m so French in some ways, but here I will stand as a European commissioner,” he said.

“A country, whichever it is, whatever its size, its history, its perceived status, a country – be it France – has to respect the rules and my role as European commissioner is to have the rules respected,” he added. “You can count on me to be a just and impartial referee.”

By Wednesday afternoon, the parliament had quizzed 20 of the commissioner nominees.

Other candidates who did not managed to gain instant approval include Spain’s Miguel Arias Canete, Hungary’s Tibor Navracsics and the Czech Republic’s Vera Jourova, according to Green parliamentarian Rebecca Harms.

Slovenia’s Alenka Bratusek is also expected to be in for a rocky hearing on Monday.