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01 October 2014

European Voice: Hill leaves questions unanswered


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Hill's good-humoured and earnest approach appeared to dispel concerns about his lobbying past, but left some MEPs feeling that he was weak on details. Video of hearing included.


If you would like to know the details, I suggest we meet later with the relevant civil servant and we can go through it. That was the (paraphrased) response of Jonathan Hill, as an MEP pressed him to finally provide some specifics about how he would implement his stated priorities as European commissioner for financial stability. “He employs a lot of charm to avoid saying anything remotely significant”, was the judgment of Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian Green MEP, just halfway through the hearing.

For many MEPs and observers that will ring true. Elisa Ferreira, a Portuguese centre-left MEP who in the last mandate steered major banking legislation through the European Parliament, asked Hill to commit to presenting legislation on deposit guarantee schemes and to provide details. “I do not think I can give you that undertaking,” came the answer. In response to one of many questions about the new Commission’s plans on creating a so-called capital markets union, Hill said that it was too early for a “grandiose vision” otherwise MEPs would think he had “taken leave of [his] senses”. Towards the end of the hearing, he admitted – when asked about eurobonds by an MEP– “I don’t have a particularly well informed view to share with you at this moment”.

This latter admission raised a rare murmur of surprise, even shock from the assembled MEPs. Until then they had generally either applauded Hill or laughed at one of his jokes, including its many variations. That joke started in his introductory statement, where, in French, he foppishly apologised for his “approximation of the language of Moliere”. Cue for each MEP to declare that they were asking their question in the language of their favourite national author – Hesse, Goethe, Cervantes, Saramago – each time they got the floor. As for the applause, Hill got some nearly every time he responded to goading questions from Steven Woolfe, a Eurosceptic British MEP.

Full article on European Voice (subscription needed)

Reuters: MEPs hold up confirmation of Lord Hill



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