PoliticsAnalysis

Michael McGrath never looked under pressure in EU job hearing

Fianna Fáil politician was across the detail and won support for standing up to far-right MEPs in confirmation hearing

Michael McGrath won the support of the Left group, the Greens and the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists. Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images
Michael McGrath won the support of the Left group, the Greens and the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists. Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images
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Jack Power
Tue Nov 05 2024 - 16:45

Armed with no less than four binders of briefing notes, Michael McGrath never found himself in trouble during a 3½-hour hearing to confirm his appointment as EU commissioner for justice.

Each of the 26 commissioners nominated to join Ursula von der Leyen around the table at the top of the European Commission must face confirmation hearings in the European Parliament.

The former Fianna Fáil minister for finance had spent weeks studying the justice brief, bracing for a grilling by MEPs. His portfolio is a broad one, ranging from judicial co-operation, the European Arrest Warrant and data protection rules, to the rule of law, foreign interference in elections and consumer rights.

The rule of law aspect of the job is particularly politically sensitive, as he will be the commission’s man cracking the whip on EU countries found to be undermining civil society, political opposition, judiciary or independent media. It will bring him into conflict with Viktor Orban’s populist government in Hungary, and potentially prime minister Robert Fico in Slovakia and Italian right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

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McGrath’s response to questions about the rule of law was watched closely, as MEPs tried to read whether he was up to the task.

Since the European elections earlier this year. the balance of power has shifted rightward, with a fifth of MEPs now coming from far-right or populist right-wing parties. It was McGrath’s replies to several loaded questions from far-right MEPs during the hearing that earned him the most plaudits. He pushed back on criticism of the European Court of Justice and immigrants, drawing applause from the room.

Privately, several MEPs who met him in the run-up to the hearing said they initially came away wondering if he had a firm grasp of his brief. But when it came to the crunch, he gave a solid performance and was across the details. Fielding questions from more than 40 MEPs, none put him under any visible pressure.

MEPs then took a vote behind closed doors on whether to approve his appointment. The Cork politician secured 125 of the 149 votes, easily clearing the two-thirds majority needed.

As well as the three centrist political groups that make up the parliament’s majority, McGrath won the support of the Left group, the Greens and the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists.