(Strasbourg) The meeting of the Conference of Presidents (EP President Sassoli and the leaders of political groups) with European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen took place this morning in Strasbourg (until noon). The meeting approved the agenda of the hearings of the Commissioners-designate. The hearings will start at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday, 30 September, at 14.30, with the evaluation of Commissioners-designate Sefcovic, Hogan and Gabriel. Each commissioner will be assessed by the parliamentary committees that deal with their respective portfolios. The hearings will last until Tuesday, 8 October. Paolo Gentiloni, who has been assigned the economic affairs portfolio, will be heard by the committees on Economic Affairs, Budgets, and Employment on Thursday, 3 October, at 9am. As the European Parliament informs in a statement: “Before the commissioners-designate can take office, Parliament exercises its power of democratic scrutiny by holding public hearings to assess their suitability for the job”. “Each candidate is invited to a three-hour hearing, streamed live, in front of the parliamentary committee or committees responsible for the portfolio they have been assigned. Following the hearing, the responsible committees prepare their evaluation of the candidate’s competence, which is then finalised by the Conference of Presidents, made up of the leaders of the political groups and the Parliament’s president”. Occasionally, the hearings can lead to the withdrawal of a candidate or to a change in their portfolios. “Once the hearings are completed, Parliament will vote on the full College of Commissioners”; this will be done during the plenary in October. “On the basis of the Parliament’s vote, the new commissioners can start their mandate”. The new EU Commission is scheduled to take office on 1 November.