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BRUSSELS — Italian Commissioner-designate Raffaele Fitto’s hearing was expected to be full of political fireworks.
In the end, however, he stayed true to his image as a calm and mild-mannered politician, ensuring that his three-hour grilling with lawmakers was a disappointment to those who anticipated grand announcements on regional funding and aggressive replies to MEPs.
Nonetheless, the session was still higher on drama than other hearings, with left-leaning lawmakers grilling Fitto — who had been appointed to serve as vice president responsible for cohesion — over his links to Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Aside from politics, most questions focused on technical topics such as how best to support the outermost regions of the EU and speeding up regional funding payments.
Overall, Fitto’s hearing did not dramatically change his prospects of serving in the next Commission — a matter that will be decided in high-stakes political negotiations between party chiefs.
But his answers did little to soothe the concerns of MEPs resentful of his ties to Meloni’s party, from which he hails. Supporters, meanwhile, claimed his hearing proved his solid credentials and expertise.
Here are our top five takeaways from Fitto’s three-hour grilling.
1. Decision postponed
No one knows when the Parliament’s decision on Fitto will come — but it almost certainly won’t be today, as the decision on Italy’s commissioner is subject to broader horsetrading over the Commission’s six vice presidents.
The evaluation hearing for Fitto was postponed until after all the hearings wrap tonight, but there is no official date on when the decisive meeting will take place.
The Socialists would like to strip Fitto of his title as Commission vice president, leaving him as a simple commissioner for cohesion. But they fear that could expose their own vice president, Teresa Ribera, to retaliation from the center-right European People’s Party.
The outcome of this political fight is still to be decided.
2. “I’m not Meloni’s man”
Fitto hammered home the point that he will serve European, as opposed to Italian interests. Responding to questions on his ties to Meloni, he highlighted his credentials as a former Christian Democrat politician — including with an ode to EU founding father Alcide De Gasperi, to whom the hearing room was dedicated — and said he’ll put aside his party-political interests.
Despite his composure, the performance is unlikely to allay concerns from socialists, Greens and liberal lawmakers, who want to claim his scalp for political reasons.
“Despite his pro-European rhetoric, Fitto remains a member of a post-fascist and nationalist party. He is, therefore, completely unsuitable to take on a central role at the heart of [the] EU administration as vice-president of the European Commission,” said German Greens MEP Rasmus Andresen.
3. Cash-for-reforms model is ok…
The Commission intends to translate the cash-for-reforms model of the EU’s post-Covid fund to cohesion policy in the coming years — much to the concern of the regional bodies, who fear being sidelined.
Fitto defended the approach, saying that it incentivized countries to carry out EU-friendly reforms that have been on the backburner for many years.
Throughout the hearing, he faced accusations of having pioneered this approach by increasing national oversight over cohesion funds to the detriment of local regions while serving as a minister in Italy. Fitto dismissed the claims as untrue.
4. …but regions are very important
He deployed region-friendly rhetoric to woo MEPs from the REGI committee, which focuses on local policy.
While he confirmed that the post-Covid model is the direction of travel, he reassured MEPs that the bloc’s regions will play a more prominent role in future policy.
Specifically, he opened the door to greater involvement of the regions in the EU’s post-pandemic cash pot in a bid to sweeten MEPs.
What will this lead to in practice? That’s too early to tell.
5. Defense
In a matter of months Fitto has mastered the Commission’s practice of not commenting on media reports.
Fitto dodged multiple questions about an FT story suggesting that the Commission might allow the use of cohesion funds for defense-related goals.
Adding to the drama, incumbent cohesion chief Elisa Fereira said during the hearing that she’s unaware of any such plans.