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LIVE Hearings today with Frans Timmermans Executive Vice-President for European Green Deal. Frans Timmermans is heard by the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) of the European Parliament​​​​​​​,​​​​​​​​​​​​ for a hearing to test his general competences. Members of the European Parliament in Brussels test his European commitment and specific expertise related to his portfolio.

Who is Frans Timmermans?

Franciscus Cornelis Gerardus Maria Timmermans is a Dutch politician and diplomat. He currently serves as First Vice-President. Timmermans is also EU Commissioner for Better Regulation, Interinstitutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights from 2014 to 2019. He was the lead candidate of the Party of European Socialists (PES) for President of the European Commission in the European election that was held in May 2019.

Timmermans previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2014 in the Second Rutte cabinet and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 2007 to 2010 in the Fourth Balkenende cabinet, in charge of European Affairs. He was a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for the Labour Party from 1998 to 2007 and again 2010 to 2012. He was a civil servant in the Government of the Netherlands from 1987 to 1998.

I’m excited to work on this for the next five years in the @vonderleyen @EU_Commission and looking forward to my hearing in @Europarl_EN to discuss how we plan to build a clean and sustainable European economy that leaves nobody behind. — Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) September 10, 2019

After the hearing by the ENVI, the committee prepares an evaluation letter on the candidate. Parliament will vote on the new Commission as a whole on 23 October.

The team of European Commissioners – proposed by its President-elect Ursula von der Leyen – ‘shall be subject as a body to a vote of approval by the European Parliament’.

Before taking this vote, European Parliament committees conduct hearings with the Commissioners in accordance with Parliament’s internal Rules of Procedure.