I’ve never seen a Commissioner visit an EP Committee to defend a piece of secondary legislation. It is usually a Head of Unit who is sent to defend a delegated act, implementing act, or RPS measure.
Yesterday, Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, came to a joint meeting of the ECON and Environment Committee to defend the taxonomy delegated act.
If you missed it, you can watch it again below.
Commissioner McGuinness played well in front of her former colleagues. It is a performance officials would benefit watching when they go in front of an EP Committee to defend the Commission’s line.
Her appearance was not due to a new found interest in the limits of secondary legislation in the Commission. It was to fend off a likely challenge by the EP to the delegated act and veto of it.
This taxonomy delegated act shows the limits of secondary legislation. Commission officials, Member State and other experts, should not make policy decisions. They should stick to technical issues. Policy decisions are matters for elected co-legislators.
The eternal question: where does ‘political’/’policy’ end and where does ‘technical’ begin? As you know, it depends on who you ask…