GUE/NGL blocks financial lobbyist Hill

After an unsatisfying performance at the 3-hour hearing of EU Commissioner-designate Jonathan Hill, GUE/NGL MEPs asked for a vote on his designation.

"This is a small success for our group," said German GUE/NGL MEP Fabio De Masi after yesterday afternoon's hearing. "Our request for a vote put others under pressure; as a result they made a proposal to hold an extraordinary second hearing with Hill."

Portuguese GUE/NGL MEP Marisa Matias said: "We've put Hill in detention. His answers were blurry, on the question of Eurobonds he did not even have a vague position."

The MEPs outlined that they see the other groups' proposal to hold a second hearing as a strategic move to give them time to reconsider Hill's mission statement.

The GUE/NGL position is however crystal clear: there are already far too many financial lobbyists in Brussels and the city of London does not deserve its own EU Commissioner.