Hearing of Commissioner-designate Iliana Ivanova on 5 September

Ms Ivanova, Commissioner-designate for innovation, research, culture, education and youth, will be questioned by the Industry, Research and Energy Committee and the Culture and Education Committee to assess her competences and suitability to become Commissioner, replacing Mariya Gabriel, who resigned on 15 May to become Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Bulgaria.

The hearing will take place in meeting room ANTALL 2Q2.

You can watch the hearing live on Parliament’s webstreaming and on EbS+.

A press point by the committee chairs Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI and Sabine VERHEYEN will take place after the hearing, next to the meeting room.

For further general information on the hearing and official documents, please see here.

Written questions and answers

Ms Ivanova’s answers to the written questions from the relevant committees can be found here.

Structure of the hearing

The hearing will last three hours. The candidate will make a 15-minute introductory statement, which will be followed by questions from MEPs. There will be 25 questions altogether: one minute per question, followed by a one-minute answer from the candidate and a possible follow-up question from the MEP. Before the hearing ends, the candidate will be able to give a five-minute statement.

Evaluation

The hearing will immediately be followed by an in camera meeting in which the chairs and group representatives (coordinators) of the two committees will evaluate Ms Ivanova’s suitability for the post.

The Conference of Committee Chairs will then assess the outcome of the hearing and forward its conclusions to the Conference of Presidents. On 6 September, the latter will conduct the final evaluation and decide whether to close the hearing process and hold a vote during the September plenary session.