#SecurityUnion: European Parliament to quiz UK Commissioner-designate Julian King

The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee will quiz the UK’s candidate Commissioner for the Security Union, Sir Julian King in Strasbourg this evening (12 September). The Parliament must be consulted and hear the candidate before he can be appointed. The vote will take place on Thursday.

Julian King's candidature was put forward by the UK government following the resignation of Lord Jonathan Hill, who held the Financial Services portfolio. Hill stood down following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

President Jean-Claude Juncker announced on 2 August that he intended to allocate the newly-created Security Union portfolio to the new UK Commissioner. King is a career diplomat and it is unusual for a member state to nominate a civil servant rather than a politician to the role of commissioner. Juncker said that portfolio matched King’s experience in the field of security having served in both NATO and as Permanent Secretary (most senior civil servant) in Northern Ireland King will have experience of dealing with both external and internal security threats. King has also had posts as a senior diplomat in Washington, Paris and Brussels.

MEPs will ask questions on the Commissioner’s general competence, European commitment, personal independence, as well as questions related to the management of the portfolio and cooperation with European Parliament. Given King’s loyal service to Her Majesty’s Government he is likely to face some tough questions on his ability to put European interests ahead of national ones. Given the UK’s decision to leave the EU this will be a particurlary difficult situation.

Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos tweeted:

I talked with @JulianKingFCO to welcome him as candidate for the #SecurityUnion portfolio. I look forward to his support and fresh ideas.

— DimitrisAvramopoulos (@Avramopoulos) August 2, 2016

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S&D Group President Gianni Pittella, said:

“Security is a vital topic for the EU and it is good that we will now have someone working specifically on coordinating the European Agenda on Security. This is something European citizens have called for and something we fully support.  It is important that this work is done in support of Home Affairs Commissioner Avramopoulos, and under the direction of first Vice-President Timmermans. The approach of leading a task force of experts from existing departments and providing advice is the correct one.”

For the S&D Group it is important that security and migration are kept separate.

Guy Verhofstadt MEP, leader of the Liberals and Democrats group (ALDE), welcomed the nomination of a commissioner to coordinate anti-terrorism policies at a European level.

Verhofstadt said:

“I would seriously question whether the nomination of the UK-commissioner for the Security Union is the right choice. The UK will soon start the process of leaving the European Union but, more importantly, the country has a long-standing opt-out from Justice and Home Affairs measures, the crucial policy area if one is serious about building a European anti-terrorism capacity. It would be odd to give such an important portfolio to someone who has no incentive to further the European interest in general or more specifically, to enhance the EU's security capabilities."

The Commissioner-designate may make an opening statement of no longer than 15 minutes. There will be two rounds of questions and a five-minute closing statement by the candidate if he so wishes.

Verhofstadt was recently selected as the European Parliament’s chief representative for the Brexit negotiations once they start. How involved the Parliament will be in any deal remains to be seen, but any EU-UK deal agreed will require the European Parliament’s approval.

It is expected that King's candidacy will be approved, but today's hearing might reveal how tough a line the European Parliament will take in future EU27-UK negotiations.

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