Questions to Commissioner-designate for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Mr Pierre Moscovici

1. The working relationship between you and the Vice-Presidents is still not fully clear. Could you bring more clarification, including on who is representing the Commission in the different fora? How will you bridge ideological differences between you and the Vice-Presidents?
 

President-elect Juncker has decided to organise the College in a different way, in order to reinforce collegiality and prioritisation. This is in my view most welcome. Vice-President will act as his delegates and will ensure delivery of the key priorities set in his political guidelines. The mission letters sent to all Vice-presidents and commissioners set out very clearly the roles, objectives and means each of us will have at our disposal. As said during the hearing on 2 October, my portfolio will contribute to six of the seven priority projects given to Vice-Presidents. I am fully confident that we will all act in a collegiate spirit to ensure smooth coordination, under the authority of President Jean-Claude Juncker.

In more details, it is clear that both DG ECFIN and TAXUD will be placed under my authority. Of course, Vice-Presidents will have access to the services, in consultation with me.
 

It is also very clear that initiatives prepared under my authority would need to be agreed with the related VP, before being put on the Commission's agenda. Concretely, this means that we would need to agree on political content in collegiate spirit. Joint proposals would require extra cooperation, which I fully accept with a positive attitude. Potential different views would need to be addressed in a constructive way, like in any other political executive or parliamentary body.
 

When it comes to the external representation, the mission letters give a coordination role to the VPs. President-elect already indicated in his press conference on 10 September that I would represent the Commission in the Eurogroup in my area of responsibility. He and VPs could of course decide to participate in Eurogroup meetings when necessary. Once formally appointed, I will discuss further with my colleagues how we organise ourselves for other international meetings.

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