Is the "Hugh Grant" of the European Union a numpty?

[David Guyatt]

looks like Cameron's man is nit so much a Constant Gardener as a Constant Disappointment? But hey, it's always good to propose someone to handle financial regulation Europe-wide who hasn't a clue about financial regulation at all. Could be the bankers pick to me...

Britain's choice for EU commissioner has no clue' about key issues, says MEP

Lord Hill faces rare second round of questioning as Belgian Green MEP dismisses Tory peer's grasp of financial regulation

• Rowena Mason and Ian Traynor
  
• The Guardian, Thursday 2 October 2014 09.18 BST
  
• Jump to comments (95)
  

Lord Hill of Oareford, a former leader of the House of Lords, is a close friend of David Cameron Photograph: Tal Cohen/Rex Features

Lord Hill, Britain's choice to be EU commissioner, may be charming but he has little to no grasp of his financial services brief, one of the politicians scrutinising his appointment has said.
Hill, a former lobbyist and friend of David Cameron, may be called for a second round of questioning after failing to convince a panel of MEPs that he is the right man for the job.
One of the sceptics was Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian Green MEP, who told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "behind his charm there was apparently little knowledge of the subject matter at hand".
"It is not about knowing the intricate details of financial regulation, it was even the main lines that apparently Lord Hill had no grasp of," he said.
"Were it on the capital markets union, on how to tackle too big to fail' financial institutions, on eurobonds, on a whole set of major issues there was not a single idea put forward by Lord Hill that showed that he had a least some conceptions about these things. So it was really not about details of liquidity ratios or stuff like that it was really about the main ideas, the main elements of the debates at hand.
"How to manage too big to fail' financial institutions is right at the middle of his remit and I am afraid to say he had no clue. He showed no grasp of the issues and there was wide agreement … that while he is a charming person he has no knowledge of the matter, and of course you do not expect leaders to have detailed knowledge but at least to have a grasp of the issues and that did not appear."
Lamberts said it was not meant as rebuke to Britain at a time of tensions with the EU, as that had in fact made some on the committee more "hesitant" to recall him. "He may be a good commissioner, but I would probably not assign him this portfolio," he added.
On Wednesday evening a European parliament committee failed to confirm him in the new European commission following a three-hour grilling, despite the Conservative peer appearing to have charmed the parliament's economics committee into submission. The understated three-hour performance was aimed at securing the plum post of commissioner for financial services and regulation with formidable powers over the City of London.
Greens rejected the candidacy following the hearing. But social democrats, the second biggest group in the parliament, also raised questions and withheld their support, depriving Hill of a quick majority.
Senior parliamentary sources said the peer may have to face an unusual second hearing next week. Others said the issue could be settled on Thursday depending on the outcome of the hearing of the French socialist, Pierre Moscovici, for the post of the EU's new budget tsar.
"It's tit-for-tat," said a source on the centre-right, warning that the Christian Democrats bloc, the biggest caucus, would oppose Moscovici if the centre-left maintained its opposition to Hill.
Despite reservations on the left that the Conservative peer would be less than impartial in overseeing the financial markets, Hill ruffled few feathers during his confirmation hearing to secure the post in the new European commission under Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker.
"I'm a pragmatic, consensual European politician," he told the MEPs after declaring unequivocally that he wanted Britain to remain in the EU despite the Tory party's pledge of a referendum by 2017 that could see the UK quit the union.
Hill was unflappable if vague throughout the three hours of questioning, frequently admitting he did not know the answers to the queries. Asked, for example, for his views on eurobonds or pooled eurozone sovereign debt, he said: "I don't have a particularly well-informed view."
The nonchalant answer irritated elements of the committee, triggering the demand for further questioning of the nominee.
Hill is a personal friend of David Cameron, who hopes to renegotiate the terms of British membership of the EU if he wins a second term next year. Asked whether, as the top UK official in Brussels, he would play a role in that negotiation, Hill said it was not a matter for him but for the British and other EU governments.
Despite the studied exercise in evasiveness from the former leader of the House of Lords, Hill's posh English Hugh Grant-style diffidence appeared earlier to have won the day.
The European People's party or centre-right Christian Democrats "acknowledged the competency Hill showed in the three-hour hearing". Its committee leader said "Hill has good ideas … He showed that he is fully aware of his accountability towards us."
Sylvie Goulard, a French liberal, said Hill was "charming but not really convincing".
Hill's key tasks would include overseeing the operation of the new eurozone banking union, arguably the biggest single response to the four-year debt and currency crisis. From November the European Central Bank is made the supervisor of the eurozone banking sector, an enormous forfeiting of sovereignty from national capitals.
Questions have been asked whether it is appropriate to have a representative from a non-euro country in this role, and the banking union role will matter hugely in Berlin and Paris. Hill promised to be an honest broker.
The EU has also clamped down on bankers' bonuses, passing legislation restricting bonuses to the equivalent of a salary. George Osborne has taken Brussels to court on the issue, contesting the legality of the curbs, handing Hill a headache. London-based banks are widely seen to be flouting the new rules, getting round the curbs through different systems of "allowances" and remuneration packages.
While stressing that responsibility for the contentious issue had been taken out of his hands by Juncker and given to the justice commissioner, Hill sounded more pro-European than pro-City.
"The legislation has been adopted and needs to be upheld," he said. "Incentives need to be aligned with performance. The problem is that that alignment has broken down."