Yesterday's hearing deviated from the raft of financial regulation that has been coming out of the European Commission. Instead, MEPs were more interested in consumer rights, e-commerce and the social and environmental dimensions of the internal market.
Compared to other commissioners-designate who have appeared before the Parliament this week, Barnier's answers to MEPs questions were delivered with pathos.
"I am not just going to sit in my office, ladies and gentlemen. Every week I will go to a different member state and I will not just stick to the capital cities," Barnier told the assembled MEPs.
Mirroring MEPs' questions, the commissioner-designate appeared to steer clear of macroeconomic policy and focused his answers on citizens and microeconomics, in particular on copyright and SMEs.
Eradicate counterfeiting
Barnier put special weight behind developing a strict copyright law to protect both consumers and rights holders.
"There are estimates that the EU has lost 2.5 million jobs to counterfeiting and I will not compromise on the protection of copyright and protecting rights holders," Barnier emphasised.
The Frenchman also told MEPs he wanted to conclude negotiations on patent litigation and eradicate counterfeiting of patents.
In addition to negotiating with the World Trade Organisation, Barnier said he will be engaging in talks with the US on an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement "to combine our efforts against counterfeiting and piracy".
Cost-savings for SMEs
There were no sweeping statements made on regulating financial services. Instead, the commissioner-designate focused on small and medium-sized enterprises.
He promised to bring down SME expenditure as a result of the EU's administrative burden by seven billion euros. His predecessor, former Irish Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy, had only managed a one-billion euro reduction, he added.
He also said he would clean up current rules on public procurement, as requested by MEPs, "to facilitate access to public procurement markets, especially for SMEs".
Though barely mentioned at the hearing, Barnier's position on current proposals to regulate financial services and markets was clearly set out in a written paper submitted to MEPs prior to the hearing.
In the paper, the Frenchman touched on nearly all aspects of financial regulation save a proposal to rein in alternative investment funds, the hotly-contested AIFM Directive.
Nevertheless, the commissioner intends to create a legal framework for crisis management, revise provisions on the level of capital held by banks and limit bankers excessive bonuses, according to the document.
Barnier not after London's blood
To all appearances, the French commissioner-designate managed to assuage concerns voiced by some MEPs that "he will constantly be on the phone to the Elysee," the French seat of government.
Barnier had been in talks with MEPs prior to yesterday's hearing and appears to have won over many as a "pragmatic" and "serious" force.
MEPs on the economic and monetary affairs committee, including its British chairwoman, Sharon Bowles, are reportedly not worried that Barnier will seek "to punish the City of London," as some lobbyists have put it.
Conservative London MEP Syed Kamall told EurActiv that he had asked the Frenchman in a private meeting whether he knew that "the City of London is not just in the interests of the UK but in the interests of the EU".
Kamall said Barnier's response showed he would "not be shooting from the hip" and that the commissioner-designate would reassure MEPs that he was a pragmatic politician.
The question of Barnier's allegiances inevitably came up in the hearing. Barnier retorted that he would be taking an oath before the European Court of Justice - a sign of his commitment to serving Europe as a whole.
