Hearing of Commissioner-designate Piotr Serafin | News

In his opening statement, Piotr Serafin promoted a post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) that balances newer priorities like defence or digitalisation with existing policies on climate, cohesion and agriculture. He emphasised the need for flexibility, simplicity, and getting “the maximum out of every Euro”. Mr Serafin proposed a competitiveness fund to drive innovation and linking member state plans to reforms and pledged to work on stronger anti-fraud protection and rule of law safeguards for EU funds.

Future investments: EU’s long-term budget and revenue

In their questions, many MEPs focussed on the architecture of the upcoming MFF, emphasising its importance for addressing the EU’s evolving challenges. They sought clarity on strategies to balance “NextGenerationEU” (NGEU) debt repayments while safeguarding essential programmes like cohesion, agriculture, and infrastructure investment. MEPs also asked how the proposed European Competitiveness Fund would be financed and how the MFF could continue supporting the Green Deal and EU biodiversity objectives.

Mr Serafin acknowledged the challenge of addressing diverse priorities within the current budget cap of 1% of EU GNI. He committed to defending EU-level funding, as it is more cost-effective than national spending, and pledged to push member states to move on new sources of EU revenue – so-called “Own Resources” – to secure a robust EU budget. He cited the STEP (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) initiative as a model he sees as promising for the proposed Competitiveness Fund.

Budgetary Control: Simplifying Rules, Combating Fraud, and Upholding the Rule of Law

Several MEPs raised concerns about the rising error rate in EU spending, as highlighted by the European Court of Auditors in its annual reports. In response, Mr Serafin clarified that the “error rate is not the rate of corruption or fraud, nor even conflicts of interest,” but primarily reflects administrative mistakes stemming from overly complex regulations. To address this, he stressed the need to simplify the rules governing EU spending, and said that “accessing EU funds does not have to be a bureaucratic nightmare.”

In terms of anti-fraud efforts, Mr Serafin proposed enhancing cooperation between the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). “I will work on a review of the overall anti-fraud architecture to strengthen these institutions and step up their cooperation,” he pledged.

Several MEPs also asked questions about upholding the rule of law, and specifically on how to prevent member states that fail to respect shared values from misusing EU funds. Mr Serafin committed to establishing a closer link between the annual rule of law reports and the EU budget. At the same time, he said any decisions should be based on sound legal grounds, not political deliberations.

Watch the full recording of the hearing here.

Press point

After the hearing, the Chairs of the Committee on Budgets and Budgetary Control, Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgium) and Niclas Herbst (EPP, Germany) held a press point outside the meeting room: watch it here.

Next Steps

The committee chair and political group coordinators will meet without delay after the hearing to assess the performance and qualification of the Commissioner-designate.

Based on the committee recommendations, the Conference of Presidents (EP President Metsola and political group chairs) is set to conduct the final evaluation and declare the hearings closed on 21 November. Once the Conference of Presidents declares all hearings closed, the evaluation letters will be published.

The election by MEPs of the full college of Commissioners (by a majority of the votes cast, by roll-call) is currently scheduled to take place during the 25-28 November plenary session in Strasbourg.