POLITICO commentary on Hearing

Parliament live stream

Maria Luís Albuquerque, Commissioner for Financial Services and Savings and Investments Union, Portugal 

Style-wise, Albuquerque sailed through Wednesday’s three-hour hearing, which happened to coincide with Donald Trump being confirmed the winner of the U.S. election. 

The political news from across the pond, however, did not fluster the former Portuguese finance minister. Albuquerque stayed focused throughout, handling technical questions without breaking a sweat while politely fending off provocative jibes about conflicts of interest. While she chose to speak mostly in English, demonstrating a good command of the language, she happily addressed questions from Portuguese colleagues in her native tongue. 

The slick performance enhanced her already good chances of being confirmed, even though a reluctance to be drawn on specific points of policy was duly noted.

Throughout the hearing, Albuquerque focused mostly on talking points already stressed in her mission letter and written replies to MEPs’ questions.

When pressed for specifics, she was evasive, deferring commitments on policy until her position was secure. She also repeatedly sidestepped questions about her tenure as finance minister in post-crisis Portugal, while downplaying concerns over her frequent shifts between public sector roles and the finance industry.

But it wasn’t all dodgeball. Albuquerque reassured the room she was open to various approaches to break through deadlocks currently plaguing the sector, among them on how to deepen the EU’s pool of private investment and how best to move ahead on establishing an EU insurance scheme for bank deposits.

She also provided some concrete thoughts on already-decided rules for banking and green finance, noting the EU should stay the course because it was important to focus on financial stability to avoid another economic crash.

Overall, the substance of the meeting set the scene for many of the conflicts that will define Albuquerque’s first months in the job. 

As largely expected, all parties voted in favor of the Portuguese nominee except the Left and the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations Group, according to two people in the room. ..

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