The next 10 days could make or break a plan to reshape the European Union under new management in an attempt to revive the economy and regain trust among its half-billion people. From Monday, members of a European Parliament elected on a wave of anti-Brussels protest will subject nominees for posts on executive European Commission to hearings that could wreck the line-up and a complex new structure proposed by its incoming president, Jean-Claude Juncker.
The former Luxembourg prime minister has presented his team as "political, not technocratic", featuring several former premiers and fewer career bureaucrats.
But lawmakers are uneasy about several of his appointments and the nominees from Britain, France, Spain and Hungary face a torrid interrogation. By giving Britain's Jonathan Hill control of banking and Frenchman Pierre Moscovici charge of budget discipline, he aims to turn poachers into gamekeepers, winning London over to common EU financial rules and Paris to reforming state spending. Hill's hearing is on Wednesday and Moscovici's on Thursday.
His proposals have support from national leaders, including centre-right ally German Chancellor Angela Merkel. One senior envoy in Brussels called Hill's nomination a "masterstroke". But many in parliament have yet to be convinced, either by the nominees or by a new, two-tier hierarchy in the Commission. The structure is meant to filter and restrain the flood of EU laws that angers many voters and focus on a few priorities, notably reviving an economy blighted by unemployment and responding to growing support for anti-EU nationalists by delivering popular, visible results. Critics say it could lead to turf wars and blur Commissioners' responsibilities.
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