Ireland’s next EU commissioner, Michael McGrath, did not expect to be handed the job covering justice and the rule of law.
Given his experience as a former Fianna Fáil minister for finance, the Government pushed for an economic portfolio in the European Commission. It is no secret McGrath was apprehensive when commission president Ursula von der Leyen slotted him down to become EU commissioner for justice instead, given his lack of experience in the area.
McGrath hasn’t got the job yet, as the 26 “commissioner-designates” have to be approved by the European Parliament in committee hearings. Those grillings will start next month, with McGrath’s hearing set for November 5th. This week we got the first detailed idea about how McGrath views the justice role, in a lengthy series of responses to written questions from MEPs.
The most closely watched part of McGrath’s hearing will be how he plans to address breaches in the rule of law. Hungary has for more than a decade been paring back rights of the LGBT+ community and asylum seekers, and suppressing political opposition and independent media. Slovakia started down the same road last year too.
In his written responses McGrath said he wanted to attach more conditions to EU money flowing into member states, as previously signalled by Von der Leyen. McGrath said he supported a “closer link” between financial support and the rule of law being followed.
The commission previously took proceedings against the former right-wing populist government in Poland for undermining the rule of law. The measures known as the article 7 procedure are seen as the nuclear option, freezing billions of euros in funding. That case was dropped earlier this year, following reforms introduced after prime minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU government came to power.
Attempts to implement similar proceedings against Viktor Orban’s far-right government in Hungary have been bogged down for years. McGrath told MEPs he supported the “more effective application” of article 7, which remains the biggest stick the commission wields over rogue member states.
McGrath’s portfolio has a surprisingly wide brief that covers consumer protection, foreign interference in democracies, data protection rules, and standard justice issues such as co-operation between countries’ police and judiciary.
One of the interesting pieces of draft legislation in McGrath’s in tray is the Digital Fairness Act. That would propose stricter regulation of social media influencers and addictive mobile phone apps such as TikTok. It would also tackle online subscriptions that are overly difficult for people to cancel. In his written replies the commissioner-to-be described the draft law as the “missing piece of the puzzle in the EU’s digital rule book”.
McGrath will need to show he has a solid grasp on the details of the brief when he faces a committee of MEPs in person in less than a fortnight
Elsewhere on the punter-friendly side of the portfolio, McGrath mentioned increasing market surveillance of substandard products bought from online sites. The former finance minister said authorities needed to ensure products ordered from abroad were safe, in the same way they monitor items bought inside the EU.
Originally an accountant by trade, he has also been tasked with bringing in an EU-wide legal status for companies, to avoid businesses having to incorporate entities in all the different member states they want to operate. He said this could touch on things such as insurance cover and insolvency. “I am well aware that earlier attempts to put a European company status in place were difficult,” he wrote.
Ireland has always bristled at the mention of bringing all the national insolvency regimes in the EU closer together, as it would create a lot of headaches for Irish finance officials. McGrath told MEPs that he felt the “fragmentation” of insolvency law in the EU was holding back key market reforms to make it easier for investment to flow across borders.
Elsewhere in his lengthy written replies he floated the idea of including artificial intelligence (AI) in plans to “provide justice professionals with state-of-the art digital tools”, to make the courts and legal system more efficient. Another piece of draft legislation he name-checked was a proposal for more transparency over lobbying carried out on behalf of countries outside the EU, in response to concerns around foreign influence.
McGrath noted the need to improve co-operation between national data protection regulators. That will be of interest to Ireland given the Data Protection Commission’s role as the effective lead watchdog of the big tech and social media giants, as their European headquarters are in Dublin.
The written responses are in a lot of ways the real starting gun on the commissioner hearings. While those answers were prepared with the help of advisers and officials, McGrath will need to show he has a solid grasp on the details of the brief when he faces a committee of MEPs in person in less than a fortnight.
The parliament traditionally likes to flex its muscles by rejecting at least one commissioner. At the moment McGrath is not seen as one of the more vulnerable commissioners, but if the hearing goes poorly, politicians will naturally start to sense blood.