Hungary’s Várhelyi to face 2nd round of written questions

Olivér Várhelyi, the Hungarian commissioner-designate for health and animal welfare, failed to win an immediate stamp of approval from members of the European Parliament on Wednesday evening.

Coordinators for the responsible committees decided instead to ask him a second round of written questions following a three-and-a-half hour grilling, during which Várhelyi fended off questions on women’s rights, competitiveness, animal welfare and his links to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

“We note that the answers given by Mr. Várhelyi did not meet Renew Europe’s expectations and so we conclude that we cannot support his nomination at this stage,” Renew said in a press release following the meeting.

The coordinator in the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI), Greens MEP Sara Matthieu, added in a release: “Commissioner-designate Olivér Várhelyi did not convince us.”

Of the 16 commissioners-designate to have undergone hearings so far this week, Várhelyi is the only one not to have passed.

Only far-right groups and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) voted in favor of the Hungarian nominee, two parliamentary officials said. The Greens, Renew and Socialists & Democrats (S&D) wanted Várhelyi to go through a second hearing, while the European People’s Party (EPP) pushed for a second round of written questions — the option the groups eventually settled on, three parliamentary officials told POLITICO.

Várhelyi, who served as the enlargement chief in Ursula von der Leyen’s first College of Commissioners, has until Monday to respond to the MEPs’ questions. After that, coordinators will hold a second evaluation meeting, after which they will need to reach a two-thirds majority. If they fail to either reject or approve him, the vote will go to the entire committees where Várhelyi will need a simple majority for the green light.

It was never going to be easy

Várhelyi was in trouble from the get-go, with multiple MEPs saying he had little chance of winning the two-thirds majority to pass.

The Hungarian faced heat over his loyalty to Hungary’s Orbán and multiple confrontations with MEPs — he famously called them “idiots” in an incident last year. Lawmakers also cited his lack of experience in health policy.

During his hearing Wednesday, Várhelyi faced multiple critical questions about his stance on women’s rights and abortion. He repeatedly said he is an “ally” of women, but that abortion lays outside of EU competencies.

“I am deeply worried to hear a potential health commissioner say that abortion is not a medical question,” Greens MEP Matthieu said. “He appears unaware or unbothered that countless women are dying for being denied access to reproductive and sexual health services.”

Just before the hearing, Commission President von der Leyen met with the chair of the Socialists and Democrats, Iratxe García, the chief of center-right European People’s Party (EPP) Manfred Weber, and Renew Europe’s boss Valérie Hayer, an EU official confirmed.

The official said it was to take stock “of the hearings in progress.”

Also prior to the hearing, Renew floated the idea of stripping back Várhelyi’s powers as health commissioner. “Várhelyi going just through with competences over vaccines or reproductive rights won’t be supported by Renew,” a senior Renew official said.

This idea was not discussed during the meeting, according to an MEP and a parliamentary assistant present in the room.

MEPs would need to demand a change of powers in the evaluation letter they send to von der Leyen after assessing Várhelyi’s answers to the additional questions and making a final decision on his candidacy.

Additional reporting by Barbara Moens.