Questions for the Hearing of Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vp-Designate for an Economy That Works for the People

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF VALDIS DOMBROVSKIS, EXECUTIVE VP-DESIGNATE FOR AN ECONOMY THAT WORKS FOR THE PEOPLE

Keywords: Capital Markets Union, Sustainable investment, Taxonomy The Capital Markets Union is one of the cornerstone of the JC Juncker European Commission. It is intended to bring closer integration of Europe’s fragmented equity and debt markets and to diversify funding sources for business and better channel investment across the continent. Cross-border investment would also improve risk-sharing across countries and reduce the companies’ dependency on home-country financing. Less fragmentation should also help to equalise the cost of credit for companies. Initially planned for completion in 2019, the Capital Markets Union is still a work in progress for the new European Commission. What should be the main drivers for a stronger Capital Markets Union? What place will long term sustainable investment have in your action plan? How can it be stimulated? The strategy for green financing has resulted in a green taxonomy for investors. What will the next steps be?

Keywords: Green finance, Sustainable investment, Taxonomy The challenges ahead, be they for climate change, waning natural resources, competitive innovation and technologies, digital transition, including social dimension (e.g. health, education…) will require unprecedented volumes of investment. How would you promote long term sustainable investment and achieve better additionality and more cooperation between long term investors?

Keywords: Green finance, Sustainable investment, Taxonomy Considering the financing stakes in the fight against climate change, there are numerous small, innovative, financially risky projects with a territorial structuring nature, which can make a decisive contribution. A decisive European action should be deployed to support such projects. Along that line, which measures would you propose to unlock the potential for long-term and stable investment and improving the visibility of the impact of the EU from a local perspective, in order to ensure that the European project continues to flourish? The strategy for green financing has resulted in a green taxonomy for investors. What will the next steps be?

Keywords: Circular economy, Financing The transition to a Circular Economy has started and is now well-underway. It must however be further strengthened with necessary investment and funding programmes, in order to finance the transition throughout the EU. Will you consider deploying new funding opportunities, with regard to the infrastructures, in order to continue the implementation of the several actions already included in the existing Circular Economy Action Plan?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF FRANS TIMMERMANS, EXECUTIVE VP-DESIGNATE FOR THE EU GREEN DEAL

Keywords: E-mobility, Green finance, Public transport The transport sector is one of the largest sources of climate-damaging and health-threatening emissions. Although the current version of the White Paper on Transport has pursued very ambitious and welcome objectives, these have not been sufficiently pursued and implemented in practice. Public passenger transport, as well as freight transport by rail, are already making a significant contribution to climate protection, irrespective of the drive technology used. The traffic volume is bundled and the space and energy consumption per person is significantly reduced compared to individual transport. How will you ensure that this potential is exploited in the course of the revision of the White Paper on Transport and that public passenger transport and freight transport by rail are massively expanded and promoted?

Keywords: E-mobility, Green finance, Public transport E-mobility can make a contribution to climate protection, but uncontrolled promotion of e-mobility in private transport can lead to even more vehicles on the roads in the future. Even if vehicles were to be powered by electricity or hydrogen in the future, they would still consume space and energy to drive them. What will you do to counteract such rebound effects, such as the additional volume of traffic or increased energy requirements?

Keywords: Circular economy, Consultation with stakeholders, Implementation of the EU environmental acquis, Transparency In the past, EU environmental legislations have faced many hurdles in the implementation phase. This is partly due to a lack of proper stakeholders’ consultation in the elaboration of those proposals, which

| is an essential step in order to design it effectively and increase the quality of the implementation by Member States. Among your tasks, you will be in charge of preparing a New Circular Economy Action Plan. Which place do you intend to give to the different stakeholders in this process?

Keywords: Circular economy, Desertification In your opinion, considering the importance of circular economy and the struggle against desertification of agricultural soils, is it important to promote the recovery process of phosphorus, nutrient and organic compound by the agricultural industry, as it has already been done by some Member States (BG, DK, F, IRL, E, GB, CZ, LV, LT, I, L, P, S)?

Keywords: Climate change, National climate adaptation strategies The EU instrument for national climate adaptation strategies fosters the development of national climate adaptation strategies. This instrument is recently evaluated by the Commission, will the instrument be revised? Or can we expect also other initiatives from the Commission to advance climate adaptation?

Keyword: Climate change, Water availability Climate change causes more weather and temperature extremes, prolonged periods of drought, and poses a major challenge for the future of EU policy in many areas. Will the availability of enough water, of high quality, be a key priority for the EU during your mandate? Which actions do you plan to take as Commissioner to secure this?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF MARGRETHE VESTAGER, EXECUTIVE VP-DESIGNATE FOR A EUROPE FIT FOR THE DIGITAL AGE, COMMISSIONER FOR COMPETITION

Keywords: Big data, Cyber risks Using big data in the public services could improve transparency, while supporting providers regarding technical elements, especially in highly interconnected areas. Amongst other uses, it can help to better map networks, and develop live-monitoring solutions to anticipate and solve problems as soon as they occur. However, without a clear legal framework regarding the use of those data, fears over misuse of data and manipulation could see an increase in the coming years, causing particular concerns for some critical infrastructures and for the privacy of European citizens. How would you address this issue, and provide a legal framework promoting a level-playing field for all enterprises, and guaranteeing the security and safety for services’ providers and EU citizens?

Keywords: Concessions Directive, Public procurement, Utilities Directive The European Union has essentially changed European public procurement law through a total revision. This revision is based on the Concession Directive 2014/23/EU, the General Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU and the Utilities Directive 2014/25/EU. However, this reform has failed to create a fair and clear procurement regime for the Member States, whereas the few new rules raise legal uncertainty for the user. In particular, the public sector is once again facing new challenges and problems. Public companies, which are in direct and undistorted competition with their private competitors, and public authorities can hardly defend themselves against their competitors on the market. Now, in the event of any unclear grounds for exclusion being invoked, the full burden of proof lies with the contracting authority, which must prove the existence of each individual element. However, as more and more international competitors are trying to aggressively establish themselves in the European markets, the probability is very high that the tender will fight an exclusion with a petition for review due to a lack of consistent proof. Furthermore, most documents are "inaccessible" abroad. This means that non-European companies can have a major influence on important industrial and labour policy contracts and steer events in the EU. In what further steps do you plan to optimize the European public procurement law in realizing a EU-wide level-playing field in which European companies on the EU market are given preference over non-European "big players" who aggressively try to enter into the European Single Market, in particular so-called "mailbox" or "paper" companies?

Keywords: Critical infrastructure, Exemptions for SGIs Tasks and services of general economic interest, in particular public transport and the development of critical infrastructure, are the cornerstones of a social and functional society. The current situation is characterised by legal uncertainty and unclear ECJ case law. Therefore, it is necessary to define clear and precise exemptions for these services from state aid and public procurement law. How specific and extended exemptions for tasks and services of general economic interest could be implemented in public procurement and state aid law in order to facilitate and ensure ambitious investment and infrastructure projects by public authorities?

Keywords: Competition policy, State aid, Stability and Growth Pact Experience with the application of State Aid rules to undertakings providing services of general economic interest within the meaning of Article 106(2) of the Treaty has shown that advantages granted to such undertakings do not affect trade between Member States. Therefore, they do not threaten to distort competition. Primary law has been drafted at secondary level by various acts, in particular regulations establishing the Stability and Growth Pact through State Aid provisions. Specifically, for the formulation of the term "deficit", Article 2 of Protocol No 12 refers to "Finance deficit within the meaning of the European system of integrated economic accounts". One of these concretising regulations is Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 on the application of Protocol No 12, based on Article 126 (14) TFEU, which refers to the "European System of Accounts" (ESA) defined in the Protocol and regulating the transmission of relevant data. It has been shown that undertakings providing services of general economic interest may deviate from the general de minimis maximum which does not distort competition. Through a reform of the "Commission Regulation on the application of Articles 107 and 108 TFEU to de minimis aid granted to undertakings providing these services”, an increase in the de minimis ceiling for SGEI aid from €500,000 to €1,000,000 would achieve the desired objective. How do you ensure sustainable and efficient financing and funding for the services of general interest within the meaning of the TFEU in the various Member States?

Keywords: Globalisation, State aid, Stability and Growth Pact Whilst national competition authorities still differ between domestic/national and European markets in the context of market definition, new technological changes will make this distinction obsolete in only a short period of time. Globalisation combined with "new" strong competitors from all over the world means that European public and private companies are increasingly forced to merge or enter into unfavourable partnerships in order to remain competitive on the international market. The wealthiest companies, the big players of the digital world, our world, are now platforms from the US and China. Their European competitors in the individual member states have the know-how, but not the opportunity to bring their product on the market. The current competition policy of the European Union imposes unfair and arbitrary conditions on public authorities, in particular on municipalities, which are the driving force behind digitalisation in the EU. As globalization and digitalisation progresses, the geographical boundaries of product and service markets are therefore becoming increasingly blurred. The new impact on competition policies now poses major challenges for Europe's economy and society. The Internet economy has established new business models for local authorities, which can hardly compete directly with the global players of digital platforms. What comprehensive evaluation measures of the existing competition provisions do you plan to adapt in order to help the municipal economy with the new developments? How could merger control be complemented by a dynamic element of the mid-term expected global environment development in order to preserve and create jobs in the EU? Compliance with the standards of the international trade regime such as the principle of reciprocity? Fairness on the market?

Keywords: Data economy, Public Service Information Directive For the public sector, the issue of "dissemination of data" is of particular relevance with regard to the Public Sector Information Directive, since it prescribes free dissemination in machine-readable format (Open Data) for a type of data that is still to be defined and is available digitally. This means that the level playing field between the public and private sectors no longer exists, as private companies are not obliged to pass on data to the same extent. In addition, public companies can incur high costs due to the processing of data and the resulting costs. The recording of data in the mobility and transport sector generates very large amounts of data. Their processing causes considerable costs for the responsible companies and institutions. If we assume that the transaction data, including metadata, of 500,000 users of a mobility app are collected, stored and anonymised. The result would be an annual data volume of 4,730,000, 000,000,000 points (4.73 trillion) plus associated metadata. This data preparation and its provision via an interface would require considerable effort on the part of companies and institutions. How much effort in terms of preparation and costs do public companies have to make in order to make the data available in accordance with the Public Sector Information Directive? How can it be ensured that a level playing field is created between public and private companies, although public companies are obliged to make their data, such as collected mobility data, available free of charge? How and where do you see public data sovereignty? Must the public sector make all data available free of charge and be liable for it?

Keywords: Local public services enterprises, SME policy The current European definition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in compliance with recommendation 2003/361/EC, excludes companies where 25 percent or more of their shares or voting rights are controlled by a public body. In practice, this definition leads to disadvantages for local public utilities in comparison with private companies, especially in sectors in which both sides are in full competition and in the case of certain funding programs launched by the EU. Concerning the question whether a given company is an SME or not, size and available (human or financial) resources should be a more important criteria the legal ownership. This is all the more true as, in times of considerable strain for public finances in general, ownership by a public authority no longer means a privileged situation or access to unlimited funding. What is your position on this matter? Could you explain how the European definition of small and medium enterprises could be amended so that local public utilities are not put at a disadvantage?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF VĚRA JOUROVÁ, VP-DESIGNATE FOR VALUES AND TRANSPARENCY

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF MARGARITIS SCHINAS, VP-DESIGNATE FOR PROTECING OUR EUROPEAN WAY OF LIFE

Keywords: Anti-discrimination, Equal treatment, European Pillar of Social Rights, Social economy European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen included the full implementation the European Pillar of Social Rights in her Agenda for Europe. A good way to move forward would be to rapidly adopt long-due policy and regulatory initiatives such as the non-discrimination directive and an Action Plan for the Promotion of Social Economy in Europe. Mrs von der Leyen announced that the Commission will propose new anti-discrimination legislation. Nevertheless, the Political Guidelines only addresses gender equality and discrimination against women. Back in 2008, the Commission proposed a new anti-discrimination directive known as the Equal Treatment Directive or Horizontal Directive that offers a broader approach and the implementation of the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, which has been blocked by the Council. Is the Commission willing to re-take this proposal and push for its approval?

Keywords: Anti-discrimination, Equal treatment, European Pillar of Social Rights, Social economy Aside from equality and diversity, von der Leyen also stated that “our economic policy must go hand in hand with social rights” and that it is high time to “reconcile the social and the market in today’s modern economy”. In this regard, social economy enterprises and organisations operate in all the economic sectors and represent an important part of the European economic and corporate landscape. They have been one of the drivers of European integration, offering innovative solutions to address evolving socio-economic challenges. Do you support the development of a European legal framework for all social economy enterprises and organisations? Do you consider it necessary to foster a European Action Plan for the social economy, with a proposed duration of 5 years (2020-2025), as a key tool to incorporate the social economy into the different socio-economic policies of the EU?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF MAROŠ ŠEFČOVIČ, VP-DESIGNATE FOR INTERINSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS AND FORESIGHT

Keywords: Better Regulation Through the Better Regulation agenda, the Juncker Commission aimed at improving the quality of EU regulatory framework overall, primary and secondary law, binding and non-binding, legislation and regulation… The adopted method consisted of a systematic mapping and screening of the entire body of EU legislation to perform a “fit for purpose” check-up. By contrast, the “One in, one out” principle mentioned by President Von der Leyen uses a considerably different approach, based on quantity rather than quality: it logically implies that the number of applicable rules matters more than what is written in those. What is your assessment of the Better Regulation Agenda’s outcome and results after five years? What would be the added value of the “One in, one out” principle compared to Better Regulation?

Keywords: REFIT Within the Better Regulation Agenda in the broader meaning, the Regulatory Fitness Platform (REFIT) has proved particularly useful in building bridges between representatives of the wider society (NGOs and non-state actors, private sector, Member States…) and EU decision-makers. Although not very well-known in the wider public yet, the REFIT Platform allowed organisations and citizens to raise relevant issues when it comes to the concrete impact of specific pieces of EU regulation on the ground, bringing valuable grassroot feedback. Involved parties almost unanimously recommended that the REFIT Platform be re-established and that its work should continue. What is your position about letting the REFIT Platform carry on with its activities in the coming legislature? What specific role do you imagine the REFIT Platform could play in respect to the ‘One in, One out’ principle?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF HELENA DALLI, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR EQUALITY

Keywords: Anti-discrimination, Equal treatment, European Pillar of Social Rights European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen included the full implementation the European Pillar of Social Rights in her Agenda for Europe. She announced that the Commission will propose new anti-discrimination legislation. Nevertheless, the Political Guidelines only addresses gender equality and discrimination against women. Back in 2008, the Commission proposed a new anti-discrimination directive known as the Equal Treatment Directive or Horizontal Directive that offers a broader approach and the implementation of the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, which has been blocked by the Council. Is the Commission willing to re-take the proposal for an Equal Treatment Directive, and push for its approval?

Keywords: Gender Equality, Women on Boards President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has put a particular emphasis on the importance of working in cooperation with the Member States to unblock the Women on Boards Directive. The European Commission “Strategic engagement for gender equality 2015-2019” assessed a certain progress in recent years in the increasing participation of women in decision-making. However, this study also underlines the persistent inequality in this area, and the need to reinforce the women and men balance in leadership. Women are indeed still largely under-represented in decision-making processes and positions at both the European and Member States level. Despite the clear imbalances in leadership, the decision-making area is the least addressed one by Member States action plans and policies for gender equality in the labour market. Moreover, the Public sector remains very poorly explored. How will you ensure that we find a way forward to the Women on Boards Directive? Is the Commission planning to link this debate with the urgent need for addressing the issue of the gender pay gap, which remains still high in Europe?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF PAOLO GENTILONI, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR ECONOMY

Keywords: EU fiscal policy, Investment, Stability and Growth Pact The European Fiscal Board (EFB) is an independent advisory body to the EU Commission. On basis of a request from the European Commission, the EFB formulated proposals ahead of the Commission’s own review of the EU fiscal rules at the end of the year. The EFB proposes some major improvements to the way we scrutinize the debt and deficit rules and act upon them. Instead of the 60% limit for the public debt, the EFB recommends the limit to be set at only a medium-term limit on public debt. Countries that have debt above that ceiling would have to keep net government primary spending (expenditure less interest payments on public debt) at or below the rate of the economy’s potential GDP growth. The EFB also proposes the introduction of a limited golden rule to protect public investment. That variant of the golden rule would exclude some specific growth-enhancing expenditure from the net primary expenditure growth ceiling. Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen wrote in her mission letter to Commissioner designate Gentiloni to ensure “a more growth-friendly fiscal stance in the euro area and stimulate investment, while safeguarding fiscal responsibility,” Do you believe a review of the SGP, including the six- and two-pack regulations, is necessary? Will you make some proposals to respond the EU’s fiscal board’s proposals for improving the EU fiscal framework?

Keywords: EU fiscal policy, Investment, Stability and Growth Pact At the level of primary law, the relevant rules of the EMU on the control of public deficits can be found in Art. 126 TFEU, which is supplemented by Declaration No. 30 and Protocol No. 12 to the TFEU. Primary law was elaborated at the secondary level by various legal acts, in particular regulations introducing the SGP. Specifically, for the formulation of the term "deficit", Article 2 of Protocol No 12 refers to "Finance deficit within the meaning of the European system of integrated economic accounts". One of these regulations is Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 on the application of Protocol No 12, based on Article 126 (14) TFEU, which refers to the "European System of Accounts" (ESA) defined in the Protocol and regulating the transmission of relevant data. Our position thus essentially covers a modified application of the Maastricht criteria (convergence criteria) anchored in EU law. In recent years a clear picture has emerged that long-term investment in public infrastructure does not make a negative contribution to reaching the 3% deficit limit. This applies in particular to the granting of loans for public infrastructure projects. That way, public investment in services of general interest is to be facilitated and made more attractive. In the past, the EU, based on Art. 126 (14) TFEU, has used ordinances to modify and define the terms of this Article in conjunction with Art. 126 (14) TFEU. Protocol No. 12 on deficit criteria. Which future initiative proposals will be formulated so that the deficit criteria enshrined in European law can be adapted in the secondary legislation of the European Union so that long-term investments in public infrastructure are not recorded as damaging to the Maastricht Treaty? The mentioned deficit criteria (values) are specified in Art. 1 of Protocol No. 12 (3% and 60% thresholds). What could be done here?

Keywords: Local public services enterprises, SME policy The current European definition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in compliance with recommendation 2003/361/EC, excludes companies where 25 percent or more of their shares or voting rights are controlled by a public body. In practice, this definition leads to disadvantages for local public utilities compared with private-sector SMEs. The situation is all the more damaging as small-scale public services providers are crucial in developing and maintaining a sound socio-economic ecosystem absolutely needed by citizens and companies. Both economic actors and the society overall rely on reliable energy, heating and water supply, well- running public transport and telecommunications infrastructures, affordable public healthcare and effective waste or wastewater management – to name only a few. Such an “ecosystem” also contributes to achieving many other EU or national-level public policy goals, from Cohesion Policy, European Circular Economy, the Energy Union, the Digital Single Market to specific SME support measures of all kind, such as the EU Small Business Act or the COSME Programme. There is no doubt that the Von der Leyen Commission’s SME strategy will depend inter alia on healthy small-scale public services as well. What is your position on this matter? Could you explain how the European definition of small and medium enterprises could be amended so that local public utilities are not put at a disadvantage?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF SYLVIE GOULARD, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR THE INTERNAL MARKET

Keywords: Concessions Directive, Public procurement, Utilities Directive The European Union has essentially changed European public procurement law through a total revision. This revision is based on the Concession Directive 2014/23/EU, the General Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU and the Utilities Directive 2014/25/EU. However, this reform has failed to create a fair and clear procurement regime for the Member States, whereas the few new rules raise legal uncertainty for the user. In particular, the public sector is once again facing new challenges and problems. Public companies, which are in direct and undistorted competition with their private competitors, and public authorities can hardly defend themselves against their competitors on the market. Now, in the event of any unclear grounds for exclusion being invoked, the full burden of proof lies with the contracting authority, which must prove the existence of each individual element. However, as more and more international competitors are trying to aggressively establish themselves in the European markets, the probability is very high that the tender will fight an exclusion with a petition for review due to a lack of consistent proof. Furthermore, most documents are "inaccessible" abroad. This means that non-European companies can have a major influence on important industrial and labour policy contracts and steer events in the EU. In what further steps do you plan to optimize the European public procurement law in realizing a union-wide One-level-playing-field in which European companies on the EU market are given preference over non-European "big players" who aggressively try to enter into the European Single Market, in particular so-called "mailbox" or "paper" companies?

| trillion) plus associated metadata. This data preparation and its provision via an interface would require considerable effort on the part of companies and institutions. How much effort in terms of preparation and costs do public companies have to make in order to make the data available in accordance with the Public Sector Information Directive? How can it be ensured that a level playing field is created between public and private companies, although public companies are obliged to make their data available free of charge? How and where do you see public data sovereignty? Must the public sector make all data available free of charge and be liable for it?

Keywords: Concessions Directive, Water services The Concessions Directive 2014/23/EU was revised in 2013. At the time of the revision, it was decided to exclude water services from the scope of the directive. This was done in order to ensure that governments, city councils and municipalities can continue to decide themselves on how to manage water services for their citizens and to ensure the human right of access to water. The fact that the first European citizens’ initiative was about this right to water underlines the concerns of European citizens on this matter. According to article 52 of the Concessions Directive, the Commission should have presented before 18 April 2019 an evaluation report, which addresses the impact of this exemption for water services to the internal market of the EU. The late transposition of some Member States forced the Commission to postpone the initiation of this report - due to missing data. The Commission services have confirmed however to start up gathering the necessary evidence and information. Are you aware of this Commission evaluation report on the exemption of water services from the Concessions directive? How will you ensure that public authorities can stay in control of the design and operation of water services, in order to guarantee the first life need of access to water for their citizens? Will you ensure during your term that water is still treated as a "public good" and not a "commodity"?

Keywords: Public procurement, Local authorities In the last 20 years there already have been more than 700 re-municipalisations in Europe. Due to the failure of many privatisations of public services providers, Member State authorities are increasingly taking control back into their own hands in order to guarantee security of supply and quality. In a

| special report in 2018, the European Court of Auditors stated that successful public-private partnership models are difficult to implement. What concrete measures do you want to take to strengthen local authorities and to guarantee a more precise assessment of individual PPP projects at EU level and comparability with conventional procurement?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF JOHANNES HAHN, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR BUDGET AND ADMINISTRATION

Keywords: Green finance, Sustainable investment The challenges ahead, be they for climate change, waning natural resources, competitive innovation and technologies, digital transition, including social dimension (e.g. health, education…) will require unprecedented volumes of investment. How would you promote long-term sustainable investment and achieve better additionality and more cooperation between long term investors?

Keywords: Sustainable investment, public finances In recent years a clear picture has emerged that long-term investment in public infrastructure does not make a negative contribution to reaching the 3% deficit limit. This applies, in particular, to granting loans for public infrastructure projects. That way, public investment in services of general interest is to be facilitated and made more attractive. In the past, the EU, based on Art. 126 (14) TFEU, has used ordinances to modify and define the terms of this Article in conjunction with Art. 126 (14) TFEU. Protocol No. 12 on deficit criteria. In your opinion, should the deficit criteria enshrined in European law be adapted with the aim of ensuring that long-term investments in public infrastructure are not considered damaging to obligations based on the Maastricht Treaty? Article 2 of Protocol No. 12 now also stipulates that the budgets of regional and local authorities are to be included in the deficit calculation. What modifications are planned for municipalities?

Keywords: Sustainable investment, public finances Since the crisis of 2008 the decline in public investment across Europe due to budgetary constraints is severe. Public investment is essential to tackle social, economic and environmental challenges. Public capital is productive and promotes growth and employment. Although the Stability and Growth Pact allows a certain margin of flexibility when it comes to exempting investments from the Maastricht criteria, it only applies to those co-financed by the European Union. What incentives do you plan in making it more attractive for a public authority to make long-term investments that secure the services of general interest in the future and in addition to increase the level of public investment again? Do you see any room in extending the existing flexibility under the Maastricht criteria - the so-called "investment clause" - to essential public investment areas, as the European Parliament already called for in a resolution in 2013?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF PHIL HOGAN, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR TRADE

Keywords: Brexit, Future EU-UK relationship, Trade agreement Keeping as close bonds as possible with our British friends and allies will remain an obvious necessity in view of geographic, historical, political and economic relations between the EU and the UK. Despite a chaotic Brexit process, and irrelevant of the “Deal or No Deal” question, the European Commission should therefore remain focused on upcoming (trade) agreement negotiations with the UK side. Considering this step as premature would be a dangerous misconception. Against this background, a comprehensive, but flexible free trade agreement with much EU acquis and a deep and comprehensive content seems most likely able to assure a high degree of access to the EU single market, at least for trade in goods, but not necessarily for movement of people and services and to foster cooperation and common policy-making in the future. The Deep and Comprehensive Free- Trade Agreement (DCFTA) currently in force between the EU and Ukraine can provide an example. These future negotiations, however, should respect strict environmental, social and security standards and ensure the possibility to amend the agreement in the future to keep up to political or economic developments. Do you endorse preparing future trade agreement negotiations with the UK following the patterns of a DCFTA? Otherwise, what is your approach?

Keywords: Public services, Sustainable trade, Transparency, UN SDG Free trade and free trade agreements (FTAs) are a double-edged sword. They can be seen either as a tremendous opportunity to set worldwide well-designed standards to co-shape globalisation, preserve multilateralism and foster sustainable development, or as a threat to the EU’s domestic social cohesion and economic competitiveness, global fight against climate change and fiscal justice. What is your position on the prospect of proactively pursuing free-trade agreement negotiations with other regions of the world while embedding clear reference to the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and to the specific role of public services and services of general interest through binding and enforceable provisions in the text of each FTA negotiated by the EU in the future? What should be the next steps with respect to transparency of trade negotiations as a means to restore the public’s trust in external trade? How do you mean to find a balance between the need for transparency and the obvious need to avoid compromising the EU’s hand in highly technical negotiations?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF STELLA KYRIAKIDES, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR HEALTH

Keywords: Drinking water, Glyphosate, Water services The EU licence for glyphosate has been prolonged, hence farmers in many countries can continue to use glyphosate. Glyphosate is increasingly found in water bodies used for the production of drinking water. Farmers claim they do not have effective alternatives to glyphosate. Do you agree that it is important that the EU should give priority to research and funding to develop less harmful alternatives to glyphosate, that do not threaten European water bodies?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF ROVANA PLUMB, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR TRANSPORT

Keywords: E-mobility, Green finance, Opening to markets, Public transport The transport sector is one of the largest sources of climate-damaging and health-threatening emissions. Although the current version of the White Paper on Transport has pursued very ambitious and welcome objectives, these have not been sufficiently pursued and implemented in practice. Public passenger transport, as well as freight transport by rail, are already making a significant contribution to climate protection, irrespective of the drive technology used. The traffic volume is bundled and the space and energy consumption per person is significantly reduced compared to individual transport. How will you ensure that this potential is exploited in the course of the revision of the White Paper on Transport and that public passenger transport and freight transport by rail are massively expanded and promoted?

Keywords: E-mobility, Private transport, Public transport E-mobility can make a contribution to climate protection, but uncontrolled promotion of e-mobility in private transport can lead to even more vehicles on the roads in the future. Even if vehicles were to be powered by electricity or hydrogen in the future, they would still consume space and energy to drive them. What will you do to counteract such rebound effects, such as the additional volume of traffic or increased energy requirements?

Keywords: Urban and regional transport The task of urban and regional transport, adapted to the often very individual regional requirements, is to provide a well-functioning public transport service for a large number of people on their daily journeys. Urban and regional transport often differ massively from long-distance transport. While for a long-distance train, for example, it makes sense to demand that luggage, including live animals, be checked in, for regional trains, which are already working under enormous financial pressure, this is neither feasible in terms of resources nor effective. A far-reaching harmonisation of long-distance and local transport makes no sense due to the individual requirements. How will you ensure that urban and regional transport companies do not have to meet the same requirements as international companies in order to take account of the individual requirements and conditions of urban and regional transport companies?

Keywords: Opening to markets, Public transport The requirements for urban, suburban or regional transport differ significantly from those for international transport. For the population, maintaining local and regional transport services that are adapted to the needs of citizens and the individual circumstances of a city or region is essential. How will you ensure that local and regional public transport operators are not adversely affected by the opening of the market to EU operators?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF NICOLAS SCHMITT, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR JOBS

Keywords: Minimum wage, Social dialogue The President-elect of the European Commission Ms Ursula von der Leyen announced an initiative on a framework for minimum wage, to be conceived and implemented by Mr Nicolas Schmitt, Commissioner-designate for Jobs. As of 1 January 2019, 22 out of the 28 Member States have national minimum wages. Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden do not have a national minimum wage, where the minimum wage is set via collective bargaining at the sectoral level and are binding for employers. On top of the legal concerns – article 153.5 TFEU strictly excludes any EU competence on pay – a proposal of the Commission encouraging Member States to set a minimum wage at national level would likely create major opposition from governments and social partners, especially in these 6 above-mentioned countries, as an attack on the autonomy of social partners. How will you ensure the success of this initiative in such a legal context while respecting both the subsidiarity principle and the autonomy of social partners?

Keywords: European Pillar of Social Rights, Social dialogue President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has put a particular emphasis on delivering the European Pillar of Social Rights and its 20 principles. Amongst others, the development of an action plan to implement the Pillar is foreseen, in close cooperation with the Member States and fully respecting the subsidiarity principle. The European Pillar of Social Rights is being implemented through both legislations and through the European Semester. However, the 20 principles of the Pillar have not received the same level of attention. As such, principles 16 to 20, which are about the access to essential services (such as long- term care, access to housing, energy or water,…) have not been followed up by any legal proposal, or even received attention through the Eu Semester. What are your intentions regarding the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights? What instruments do you plan to create to ensure its implementation? Will equal attention be paid to all the principles of the EPSR?

Keywords: Equal treatment, European Pillar of Social Rights, Social economy Aside from equality and diversity, President-elect von der Leyen stated that “our economic policy must go hand in hand with social rights” and that it is high time to “reconcile the social and the market in today’s modern economy”. In this regard, social economy enterprises and organisations operate in all the economic sectors and represent an important part of the European economic and corporate landscape. They have been one of the drivers of European integration, offering innovative solutions to address evolving socio-economic challenges. Do you support the development of a European legal framework for all social economy enterprises and organisations? Do you consider it necessary to foster a European Action Plan for the social economy, with a proposed duration of 5 years (2020-2025), as a key tool to incorporate the social economy into the different socio-economic policies of the EU?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF KADRI SIMSON, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR ENERGY

Keywords: Clean Energy Package, Climate Policy, Energy Policy, ETS Directive Energy transition requires a daily work between Climate and Energy teams in the European Commission. Under the previous European Commission (2014-2019), the revision of the ETS directive was dealt separately from the Clean Energy Package, leading to issues with the two separate pieces of legislation. How can you prove to the Parliament that it will be the case?

Keywords: Decarbonisation, Low-carbon energy, Green Taxonomy Do you think that all low-carbon technologies should be mobilized without exception to achieve the 2030 decarbonisation target proposed by Mrs von der Leyen? Do you think we need to establish a hierarchy between the low-carbon technologies?

Keywords: EU Energy Efficiency, National Plan The 2020 EU Energy Efficiency objectives are unlikely to be attained, while we already have ambitious objectives for 2030. The draft National Plans do not seem to answer to these objectives so far. How can we price CO2 to really succeed in attaining those objectives?

Keywords: ETS Price, Energy Efficiency As reducing CO2 emissions by energy efficiency measures might be much more expensive that the present ETS price, how do we ensure that the transition is efficient, starting with the least expensive emission reductions?

Keywords: Charging infrastructure, Electric vehicles What do you intend to do to ensure that the charging infrastructure required for the circulation of millions of electric vehicles on the roads by 2025 and 2030, in line with the Directive on CO2 emissions from vehicle?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF VIRGINIJUS SINKEVIČIUS, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND OCEANS

Keywords: Agricultural policy, Pollution, Water services For the abstraction of drinking water, water providers use groundwater resources. Therefore, nitrates pollution from the agricultural sector continues to cause concerns for water suppliers. In your opinion, is it crucial to strengthen the polluter pays principle, also through the mandatory use of fertilizers that do not cause precipitations on water resources, guaranteeing that the removal cost is in charge of the producers by a specific fee? In your opinion, is it possible to encourage a new approach to agriculture based on a minimum use of water and on the use of organic fertilizers? How do you intend to arrange for precautionary water protection to be followed more consequently as a result of the on-going reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy?

Keywords: Drinking water, Pollution The former Commission was committed to reduce the usage of plastic bottles by 17%. Do you support this goal? In your opinion, is it crucial to increase the safety of tap water by creating specific advertising campaigns?

Keywords: EU water acquis, Pharmaceuticals in the Environment, Polluter-pays principle If the EU wants to take the protection of water resources seriously, it must ensure that pollutants are prevented from entering the water cycle or at least reduced at an early stage. This requires a consistent implementation of the polluter pays principle and the precautionary principle at European level, for example when it comes to further developing the EU’s Strategic Approach to Pharmaceuticals in the Environment. Even by upgrading waste water treatment plants throughout Europe, only a specific part of substances could be eliminated at all while such one-sided measures would lead to considerably higher costs for consumers. How do you plan to develop holistic measures to address the issue and to avoid one-sided end-of- pipe solutions?

Keywords: Water re-use Climate change causes more weather and temperature extremes, prolonged periods of drought, and poses a major challenge for the future of EU policy in many areas. The re-use of effluent treated waste water from urban waste water treatment plants, can function as an additional water resource for agriculture or industry, in absence of insufficient other resources such as surface or ground water. What will you as a Commissioner do to foster the innovation and uptake of water reuse?

Keywords: EU water acquis, Polluter-pays principle The EU mainly determines the environmental policy framework for drinking water suppliers and operators of waste water treatment plants. At the moment, the EU water acquis (Water Framework Directive, Floods Directive, Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive etc.) is under evaluation. How would you ensure that in the future precautionary water protection and the polluter pays principle are respected in a more consequent manner and that respective provisions are taken up in all policy fields to improve their coherence?

How will you ensure that the Water Framework Directive will be developed further as a basis for water management beyond 2027?

Keywords: Water Framework Directive The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is an essential piece of legislation to protect and improve European water bodies. Since the early 2000s, much progress has been achieved. All EU Member States committed themselves to reach the goals of the WFD by 2027 at the latest. Unfortunately, none of the EU countries is anywhere close to doing so. How do you aim to solve this situation, without being forced to start infringement cases or revising the WFD to change the deadlines?

Keyword: Urban waste water Urban waste water treatment plants can make an important contribution to a truly circular economy. Waste water has enormous potential to recover secondary raw materials or to produce renewable energy or recover heat. Upgrading waste water treatment plants to fulfil their potential in the circular economy requires considerable investments. How will you as Commissioner fight for financial resources for the waste water sector to play a part in this transition?

Keyword: Drinking Water Directive The nature of materials in contact with drinking water can have an impact on the quality of the drinking water, by migration of harmful substances, enhancing microbial growth or by influencing odour, colour or taste of the water. The current Drinking Water Directive does not tackle this issue effectively because of too much legal flexibility, and has led to different national approval systems. To improve this situation, Parliament and most Member States in Council support the introduction of specific EU minimum hygiene requirements for materials that come into contact with drinking water. How will you as Commissioner ensure that this important improvement of the Directive to protect citizens’ health will materialise?

Keyword: REACH Directive The current REACH Directive and the implementation thereof insufficiently takes into account pollution of water resources used for drinking water production. To determine whether substances are harmful, REACH provisions target PBT substances (persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic). An important group of substances for drinking water production, the so-called PMT substances (persistent, mobile and toxic) are not targeted. Linking REACH with the goals of the Water Framework Directive is essential and possible effects on water quality should be explicitly taken into account in the process of registration and assessment of chemical substances.

How will you as Commissioner ensure that water sources used for the production of drinking water are not negatively affected by industrial pollution? Will the Commission support the UBA initiative to classify PMT substances as substance of very high concern (SVHC)?

QUESTIONS FOR THE HEARING OF JANUSZ WOJCIECHOWSKI, COMMISSIONER-DESIGNATE FOR AGRICULTURE

Keywords: Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Glyphosate, Water Framework Directive (WFD) Water is a precious and vital resource for agriculture. At the same time the European water bodies are under pressure from emissions from agriculture and over abstraction for irrigation. This is why good water management is key, as well as a more ambitious implementation of EU legislation for plant protection products and the Water Framework Directive. How will you as Commissioner give priority to this water-and-agriculture nexus? The Common Agricultural Policy can function as a very important and big financial tool to help European farmers comply with and implement EU legislation and reach policy goals in the field of environment and climate. How can the future CAP better contribute to reaching the goals of the WFD and how can water management play an increased role in the future CAP?