HEARINGS : COMMISSIONERS' WRITTEN ANSWERS: A EUROPOLITICS EXCLUSIVE.

The written answers of the 26 commissioners-designate to the five questions submitted by the European Parliament, on 27 November 2009, in preparation for the hearings held on 11-19 January, are ready. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso transmitted them, on 17 December, to EP President Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland), who then forwarded them to the members of the relevant committees.

The questionnaire contains five general questions related to qualifications and experience, their role as members of the executive, cooperation with and commitment to Parliament, the priorities in each portfolio and the initiatives they intend to take forward. The commissioners' answers to the last question are consistently the most interesting and represent something of a work programme for the next five years. The Commission president himself details, in his letter to Buzek, what he plans to accomplish in the areas directly under his responsibility, such as the commissioners' code of conduct, impact...