| Dear readers, Welcome to EU Politics Decoded, brought to you by Magnus Lund Nielsen and Nicoletta Ionta. Decoded is your essential, original guide for staying up-to-date with the Brussels bubble. Subscribe to Politics Decoded here. In today’s edition The Parliamentary hearings to confirm the new European commissioners will get underway next Monday (4 November). If European Parliament President Roberta Metsola's explanation still left you confused, Decoded will break down what to expect in the next two weeks. Euractiv will be following every question and answer, so you don’t have to: stay tuned for our liveblog. Going into the commissioner hearings, this week’s Decoded helps you understand what’s at stake and what to look out for when the 26 candidates come face-to-face with EU lawmakers in the Parliament’s committees. Green week, when MEPs and assistants typically head off on holiday, has brought an unusual quietude to Brussels. Coffees, chats, and calls have faded away, and time has seemed to slow down. The feeling is that of a calm before the storm, with next week’s looming confirmation hearings for the new class of commissioners. But how heavy a storm will the candidates really have to weather? Much of the Parliament seems eager to get the new Commission up and running as quickly as possible, with minimal drama. It’s a far cry from five years ago, when MEPs came in with knives drawn, ready to make a point, fired up by member states' decision to bypass the Parliament’s attempts to democratise the process for selecting the EU’s executive. Talking to Parliamentary sources from across the political spectrum this week, few seem interested in catalysing a chain reaction of rejections. Because should one party’s candidate fall, the party is likely to retaliate later in the process. Commissioners-to-be deep into their homework Designated commissioners have been hitting the books in recent weeks to learn their lines before the grilling by MEPs. The candidates have also been meeting with MEPs ahead of time, attempting to secure sufficient support before the public hearings even begin. With only small transition teams at their disposal, they have relied heavily on Commission civil servants for assistance, particularly for their written answers to MEPs questions, published last week. In practice hearings in the Berlaymont, Commission officials have been invited to assess each candidate’s expertise within their respective portfolios, a Commission official told Euractiv. The short or the longer way After enduring their three-hour session in the hot seat, each commissioner-designate will immediately be evaluated by committee coordinators in a closed-door meeting. Should two-thirds of coordinators, who represent their political group’s members in their committee, vote to accept the candidate, the commissioner-designtate is off the hook. But without that two-thirds majority, the coordinators have a couple of options: they may choose to ask additional written questions, or they can ask the Parliament’s leadership to organise an extra hearing. After these, the candidate’s fate would be put to a secret vote amongst all committee members. In both cases, political manoeuvring inevitably comes into play. But if coordinators opt for an additional hearing – which can only take place after the scheduled hearings are finished – then the process could drag on much longer, and scope for politicking grows significantly. That is why having your own candidates approved sooner rather than later was a priority for political families when putting the timetable together. Groups with candidates heard later in the process may come under pressure to approve candidates with early hearings, under the implicit threat that reprisals could follow if discussions drag into overtime. What to look out for? The Parliament’s biggest grouping, the centre-right EPP, is especially interested in getting the hearings done as soon as possible. As last week’s plenary showed, the new parliament is proving to be an EPP one, as the group gets to pick and choose which side of the hemicycle to align with on a case-by-case basis. Finding 361 out of the 720 members without relying on the EPP’s 188 MEPs has already proven difficult. The group has emerged as both king and kingmaker, leaving their former political partners on the left in disarray. Similarly, the new Commission is looking to be an EPP Commission. 16 out of the 27 incoming Commissioners are either members of, or affiliated with, the European political family. With a caretaker Commission still in place and the legislative machine largely stalled, the EPP needs the new Commission in office to fully reap the benefits of a playing field tilted in its favour. So, with EPP lawmakers ultimately deciding who gets through and who doesn't, the only politicking we may see in the hearings could be to ensure everyone gets through smoothly, just in time for a new executive to take office in December. But then again, it takes only one hearing that turns sour, one candidate that doesn’t pass – and all the fragile balances may disintegrate. | 