A strong reason for which the Polish authorities put forward the candidacy of Lewandowski is his indisputable knowledge of the functioning of the European Union, particularly European budgetary policy. After being an observer in the European Parliament for a year prior to his country's EU accession, he was elected as an MEP in the 2004 European elections and became president of the Parliament's powerful budget committee.
In the words of Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Lewandowski is an expert in the budgetary field, and it is important that this policy is taken care of by someone who cares about cohesion and social issues like he does.
Lewandowski helped to draw up the EU's 2007-2013 financial perspectives, advocating an increase in member states' contributions and the amount allocated to poorer countries.
The only possible argument against Lewandowski's appointment as budget commissioner that could emerge during the hearings is his nationality, experts say. Poland has greatly benefited from the EU budget in recent years. Thus richer countries, especially in view of the economic crisis, may fear that a Polish commissioner would oppose their drive to cut EU cohesion expenditure in the next financial perspectives, for the years 2013-2020.
Lewandowski himself admits that striking a balance between the budgetary interests of the new member states, such as structural funds, cohesion and agricultural policies, and the ambitions of the bloc's old members - combating climate change or the creation of an External Acton Service - will be his biggest challenge.
"My work will consist of shaping the European finances in such a way so that we will consolidate the European Union. Cohesion and dynamics will be two equal goals," he said.
In his written answers, provided ahead of the hearing, Lewandowski said that he hopes his recent experiences as an MEP will help him in his future work with the EU assembly. He says that changes to the budget procedure under the Lisbon Treaty and the increased role of the Parliament in this regard will motivate him to seek consensus on future initiatives, as well as transparency.
Lewandowski lists his three priorities as follows: ensuring smooth adoption of annual budgets, managing the present 2007-2013 budget, and promoting inter-institutional consensus on the next financial package.
As for his planned initiatives, Lewandowski says that the next budget commissioner has been given the freedom to propose budget reallocations, in response to the priorities to be adopted by the EU's 2020 strategy. Any re-examination of the budget will be based on the results of consultations conducted by the former Commission, as well as input from the European Parliament, the Polish commissioner-designate says.
